Todd Ryals

Unlucky Bounce Dooms Wildcats

9/17/2017 11:53:00 AM

By: LC Sports Information - Todd Ryals

Box Score

Saturday afternoon marked the start of play in the America Southwest Conference for the Louisiana College Women's Soccer team as the Blazers of Belhaven University crossed the Mississippi/Louisiana state line for their clash at Wildcat Stadium. The Lady Blazers would ride the blistering heat to outlast the Wildcats 1-0 after an unlucky deflection in the 69th minute.

The start of the game would suggest a different finish, as the Lady Cats would demonstrate a dominant attack early in the match. Two consecutive Ashlynn Folse corners in the second minute put the Blazers in a bind but a solid defense would keep the Cats out of the net.

Flipping the field with precise passing, Lady Blazer Erica Rempel took aim at the Wildcat goal but an easy save by junior Haley Clark defused the counter in the 11th minute.

Not giving up, the Cats would continue to assault the Blazer defense, pressing the backline and sending penetrating passing through but the Cats were not able to test Alexis McDonald's goal, finishing the first half without a shot.

On the other hand, Rempel would try her luck again in the 28th minute but Clark would again prove she was prepared and kept the score tied at zero.

The Wildcats could not retain the ball for long spells of possession as the mid-field of the Blazers were dropping numbers back making the Wildcats work for a goal. The Blazers intercepted passes and shut down any forward progression, keeping the Cats at bay.

The Blazer's offense was clicking, beating the Cats to lose balls and sending wide passes giving forwards and wingers chances to get on the end of them. In the 36th minute Jessica Mahoney found a pocket of space in front of Clark's goal and fired from distance, the effort was promising forcing Clark to move off her line to prevent a score. Minutes later Mahoney would try Clark again, this time Clark had no chance to catch it as the shot was to far above the goal.

Changing direction of attack, the Blazers would push down the left flank of the Cats setting up Dominique Farias with a right footed shot, but it was not strong enough, giving Clark time to get behind it, finishing the half tied at zero.

A motivated half time speech by Wildcat's coach Samantha Etherington would kickstart the Cats after the restart of play. Freshman Taylor Aubert's shot would fall just wide of McDonald's goal but the Cats were looking to break the deadlock early. The attempt would be too far in-between as the Blazers continued to send numbers forward and try Clark's hands.

Two failed Mahoney efforts following would not change the score but slow down the Cat persistence. The constant Blazer offense tired the Cats defense allowing holes to be exploited and in the 69th minute Rempel found the back of the net. Floating between the center-backs Rempel received Mahoney's pass turning towards goal and took a shot. The shot was decent but a deflection off an LC defenders leg gave Clark no chance to prevent the ball from crossing the goal line.

An LC comeback would mount behind senior Jaime Trahan minutes later. Trahan connected with a mid-fielder's pass and pushed the ball out from her and stroked a goal-ward shot. The right footed, side netting, curved shot forced McDonald to leap to her right, outstretched and prepared pushing the shot away from goal. Trahan's shot would be the last threatening LC attack as the Blazers held onto their lead to the final whistle.

The Cats fall to 0-1-0 in ASC play and face the Howard Payne University Yellow Jackets on the road Thursday Sept. 21st in Brownwood, TX continuing ASC play Saturday against the University of Texas at Dallas Comets, both games kicking off at 2 P.M. For more on the Lady Wildcats follow them on FaceBook under Louisiana College Women's Soccer and Twitter at LC_WSOC.

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