Lady Cajuns Soccer 2006

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UL’s soccer team has brought a new definition to the term “drama queens.” Good thing, since “Cardiac Cajuns” gets overused. Each could describe the Cajun squad, though, after its last three matches — three wins that have put UL right in the thick of the Sun Belt Conference race. Friday night, the Cajuns snapped a 1-1 tie with Florida Atlantic in the final minute, with Lafayette freshman Courtney Hofland scoring on a solo breakaway and giving UL a 2-1 victory. Last weekend, UL decided that overtime was the best way to go, going into extra time in back-to-back wins over Arkansas-Little Rock and Arkansas State. Three matches, three one-goal wins, all of them nail-biters for second-year coach Scot Wieland. “We are playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Wieland said. “Friday’s match was probably the first time I’ve seen our team come out and from start to finish play hard and play with confidence.” The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

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Before Sunday afternoon, UL's soccer team had never won four straight Sun Belt Conference matches. The Ragin' Cajuns also had never won as many as four league matches in a single season. Both those marks came tumbling down Sunday thanks to a pair of mid-first-half goals, and the Cajuns never looked back in taking a 3-1 victory over Florida International at the UL Track/Soccer Facility. The win gives the Cajuns (7-5-2 overall, 4-2 Sun Belt) four league wins over the past two weekends, following a 2-1 home win over Florida Atlantic on Friday. The old school record both for consecutive league victories and conference wins in a season was three, with UL getting three Sun Belt wins in 2001, 2002 and 2004 including three in a row in the 2004 season. The seven wins also matches UL's best-ever win total, one set in 2004 when the Cajuns finished with a 7-10-2 mark. The rest of the story

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LAFAYETTE - Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns needed overtime to escape Sunday’s Sun Belt Conference match with Troy with a victory. UL scored a goal in the first minute of overtime to record their school record eighth win of the season. Lindsay Webb scored the golden goal for the Ragin’ Cajuns. She scored on a deflected ball off of a Courtney Hofland shot that bounced off of the crossbar. Webb’s goal was her fourth of the season – a career high – and her first match-winning goal of her career. Hofland was credited with her fifth assist of the season. At goal for the Cajuns was Stephanie Weston. The sophomore recorded four saves en route to her fifth shutout of the year. Weston now has eight victories on the season, moving her into sole possession of first place for wins in a season, passing fellow Cajuns goalie Kristen Malen. Despite having 22 shots on the day, the Cajuns were unable to put the ball in the net, sending most of their shots high or wide on the day. UL recorded five shots on goal, but were unable to score until overtime. The Cajuns and Trojans entered halftime knotted up at 0-0. Louisiana was unable to score in the first half despite taking 11 shots with three shots on goal. The Ragin’ Cajuns controlled the ball most of the first half, not allowing Troy to advance the ball past midfield more than a handful of times. UL returns to action on Friday, Oct. 27 for their final match of the year. The Cajuns will play in-state and conference foe Louisiana-Monroe. The Ragin’ Cajuns will honor their two seniors 15-minutes before the match begins. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. LOUISIANA SI

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UL's soccer team didn't want a second Sun Belt Conference stalemate in as many matches, but it certainly looked like that was happening Sunday against Troy's Trojans. That was before Courtney Hofland bounced a shot off the Troy crossbar 48 seconds into overtime, and senior Lindsay Webb pounded the rebound past Trojan goalkeeper Jennifer Currie to provide a 1-0 victory at the UL Track/Soccer Facility. The Cajuns (8-7-3, 5-4-1 Sun Belt) had battled to a 2-2 tie Friday against South Alabama, rallying from a 2-0 deficit, and looked to be on their way to another draw with both defenses pitching shutouts through 90 minutes of regulation Sunday. Webb tallied her career-high fourth goal of the season and also posted the first match-winning goal of her career. Acadiana High product Hofland, a freshman who had one of the two goals Friday in the comeback against USA, posted her fifth assist of the year. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

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UL's soccer team plays its final regular-season match - but not its final home outing - tonight when the Ragin' Cajuns face state and Sun Belt Conference rival UL Monroe. The 7 p.m. match at the UL Track/Soccer Facility will give the Cajuns (8-7-3, 5-4-1) a final tune-up before the Sun Belt Tournament, scheduled next Wednesday-Saturday, Nov. 1-4, at the UL field. The teams with the eight best records in the 12-team league qualify for the tournament. ULM (5-13-1, 1-9 Sun Belt) has been eliminated from that field and will wrap up its season tonight. No admission will be charged for tonight's match as part of UL's Homecoming activities. The rest of the story

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UL's soccer team is a definite dark-horse pick this week at the Sun Belt Conference Soccer Tournament, but not as dark a pick as in previous years. The Cajuns welcome the league's other seven top teams for the single-elimination tournament that begins today at the UL Track/Soccer Facility. Four first-round games are scheduled today beginning at 10 a.m., with the host and sixth-seeded Cajuns meeting third seed North Texas in today's 7 p.m. finale. Most conference observers are expecting a 1 p.m. Saturday finals pairing matching top-seeded Denver (11-0) and second seed Middle Tennessee (10-1), but UL coach Scot Wieland wouldn't be surprised if the bracket included some upsets - especially involving his team. "This is sudden death for everybody now," Wieland said. "We're all starting on an even plane and records don't mean anything." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

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The rain that started falling about 45 minutes before match time was probably a bad omen for UL’s soccer team. The Cajuns were going to have enough trouble keeping up with North Texas’ highly-talented Mean Green, before the UL Track/Soccer Facility pitch became less turf and more slip-and-slide. But it probably wouldn’t have mattered. North Texas’ 5-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament showed the difference in an experienced tournament team and a Cajun squad that, although much improved over last season, still isn’t quite ready to stay with the league’s best in a sudden-death format. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com