On Sunday, Oct. 27, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns soccer squad had one final afternoon to 1 perhaps keep its Sun Belt Conference Tournament chances alive against the Georgia State Panthers. The Cajuns lost the game 1–0, ending their season a match early.
As the match was set to be the team’s Senior Day, Head Coach Chris McBride took time in an Oct. 21 press conference to mention some of the senior players to be honored. He first gave a nod to his most-tenured starters.
“It’s huge. Not to separate the seniors at all, but obviously Hailly Waterhouse, Tatum Beck and Lucy Ortiz were part of the program here when we got here,” McBride said.
“As a coach, when you come in, you’re looking for young women who are gonna buy in to what you wanna do, and right from the word ‘go’ they bought into the vision that we had for the program and what it was gonna take to move us in the right direction.”
“We’re not where we wanna be yet, but those three young women who were in here and knew what it was like prior to being here, then we don’t have that driving force moving forward.”
McBride also took time to recognize the senior transfers the program had taken on.
“I always think you have to have some self-reflection and you have to have some openness in order to move in the direction that you wanna go,” McBride said.
“For Mariella [Stephens] and Lauren Bennett who transferred in, they also had experiences at other programs, and they’ve been huge because they were among the first people to buy into the vision of this staff and what we wanted to do.”
“The five of them, they’ve been pivotal in how we’ve moved forward here. I think that you’re always looking for some people to step up, and it’s not been just this year.”
“I think it’s been since the very first moment that we got here, those voices, those prescences, those attitudes, the work rate of those five have always stood above all else.”
The Cajuns weren’t able to generate their usual pressure in the Georgia State match, totaling just five shots (three on goal) all game.
Panthers keeper Jaddah Foos was able to save all three of the Cajuns’ best scoring opportunities.
Then, in the 17th minute, Aaliyah Faddoul put the Panthers up with a majestic outside-the-box shot into the goal’s top-left corner.
The Cajuns played with a lot of heart down the stretch. Keeper Natalie Mayes saved six shots in just the second half, but without a clean sheet, the effort was not enough.
As Louisiana-Monroe and Southern Mississippi had managed a conference win more than the Cajuns and the tournament format had been reduced to eight teams, the last ticket to Foley, Alabama remained just out of reach.
Up next on Thursday night, Oct. 31, was the Cajuns’ final game of the season. The team traveled to Huntington, West Virginia to take on the Marshall Thundering Herd.
The Herd’s Bailey Fisher opened the scoring, drawing a penalty kick in the 17th minute.
The Cajuns’ Sydney Barnes responded later in the second half, converting on a cross left alone in the middle of the box in the 62nd minute to equalize.
Just when it looked like the Cajuns would coast to another draw, Tatum Beck left her mark on the match. With less than ten minutes to play, Beck beat her defender off the dribble at the top of the box, cut back to the left, and put in a left-footed shot in the corner of the goal. The Cajuns held onto the lead and went out on top, 2–1.
McBride was lastly asked about the outgoing seniors’ impact on the culture of women’s soccer at Louisiana.
“I think right now for those guys, their vision is just on the next game. I think right now, they’re still self-reflecting after every game. I think they wanna make sure that they go out on the best note possible for the program.
“They’ve got a huge sense of camaraderie with their teammates for sure. They wanna do their teammates proud, they wanna set a legacy within the program, and they wanna make sure they’re leaving the shirt better than they found it, which is always the goal.”