NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Louisiana Christian University women's soccer program were picked to finish fifth in the league and will now enter the RRAC Tournament as the favorite to land the conference's second auto-bid to nationals after upsetting the (RV) Gold Nuggets via a single goal for its second ranked win of 2024, 1-0.
 
Under first year Head Coach Harrison Houle, the Wildcats, who had never beaten a ranked or receiving votes opponent in their first 22 attempts, have now knocked off its last two in shutout fashion.
 
It was LCU's 12th clean sheet of the season, breaking the tie with the school's only NAIA participant and RRAC Championship team from the fall of 2021 for the most in club history.
 
The Basics: 
 

• Score
  • Louisiana Christian – 1
  • (RV) Xavier (Louisiana) – 0

 

• Records
  • Louisiana Christian (12-4-2, 11-1-1 Red River)
  • (RV) Xavier-Louisiana (11-5-1, 10-2-1 Red River)

 

• Location
  • New Orleans, Louisiana – Pan American Stadium

  

• Series History
  • Series Tied 1-1 (50%)

 

• Winning Streak
  • Wildcats (W1) | Gold Nuggets' Last Win: October 28, 2023 (1-0)

 
Wildcats Top Performers: 
 

• Jaycee Woods, who has been between the pipes for each of those historic 12 goose eggs, made five saves without failure to put up a zero for the fifth time in her past six games.

 

• Giselle Laing came off the bench to net her second straight game-winning goal, sending the Wildcats past the hosts at the 27:20 point.

 

• Maryane Mafra was the delivery woman, and the ball successfully reached its location as she headed it over to Laing who put the finishing touch on the score, giving the Brazilian grad student her fourth career assist and first of the campaign.

 

• Emma Monnet was the only Cat with multiple looks, getting off three shots and one on-target.

 

• Valeria Barriga Casallas and Kamsi Nwosu each landed their one attempt into the grasp of the goalie while Zoi Arkirvaki saw her one shot sail wide left.

 
Record Book Watch:
 
Career 
 

• Barriga Casallas broke a deadlock in both career shots (73) and shots-on-goal (45) as she moved into sole possession of ninth and fourth, respectively.

 
Team 
 

• The current six-game winning streak is the third-longest of all-time.

 
Season 
 

• Laing's seventh goal of the year (and her career) is good enough for tenth on the single-season scoring list along with Casallas who got her seventh on Thursday.

 

• Monnet has now launched the second-most shots in 2024, trailing only Martina Terra Garcia's ridiculous 102 from the fall of 2021 at 66 for the French phenom.

 
Next:
  

• The RRAC Quarterfinals will take place either Thursday or Friday on the pitch at Wildcat Field as the #2 seed Wildcats host the #7 seed Our Lady of the Lake Saints.

 

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Follow the women's soccer program on Twitter/X (@LCU_WSOC) and Instagram (@LCU_WSOC).
 
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