THE MATCHUP
Teams: ULM (6-7-2, 3-3-1 Sun Belt)
UL-Lafayette (7-7-1, 3-3-1 Sun Belt)
Location: Ragin' Cajuns Soccer/Track Facility, Lafayette, La.
Time: 1:00 p.m.
MONROE, La. – The ULM soccer team takes the field on Sunday in their final game of a three-game road trip when it heads down south to face UL-Lafayette. The Warhawks and Ragin Cajuns will face off at 1:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon in Lafayette.
NOTABLES
-ULM and UL-Lafayette enter Sunday's contest as two of five teams tied with 10 points with just over a week left in the 2016 regular season. The top eight teams go to the Sun Belt Conference tournament in Foley, Alabama at the end of the season.
-The Warhawks and Ragin Cajuns have played eight common opponents this season, Southern Miss, SE Louisiana, McNeese State, Georgia State, Little Rock, Georgia Southern, Arkansas State and South Alabama. ULM is 4-2-2 against that group of teams while UL-Lafayette has gone 4-3-1 against the same group of opponents.
-ULM and UL-Lafayette will meet up for the 15th time in each school's history with the Ragin Cajuns holding a 9-3-2 all-time record however the Warhawks have the upper hand winning last year in double overtime 3-2.
-The Ragin Cajuns enter Sunday's game coming off a big SBC victory over South Alabama in Mobile last Sunday winning the contest 3-2. UL-Lafayette is led by the Sun Belt Conference leader in goals in 2016 as Senior Mackenzie Higgins has buried eight goals this season however all eight of those came prior to SBC. Yazmin Montoya and Whitney Taggart have buried five and four goals respectively while Taggart has scored three of those in game winning fashion.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Keyton Wheelock
Recap of Last Weekend: First off, Appalachian State did a great job hosting us and really scrambling at the last minute to make it happen so we didn't have to move it. Both teams had to go on the road on Friday and you have to overcome the adversity and on Friday we didn't do that, however we did bounce back on Sunday but on Friday we struggled with the travel but they had to do the same thing and they showed up and were ready to play and they outworked us. Our team again in the second half on Friday was able to keep them scoreless it gave us a small light. Sunday against Georgia state they were well organized as they haven't given up a lot of goals as we did a good job of keeping possession however we were lacking chances of being clinical in the final third.
UL-Lafayette Preview: Lafayette is a really dangerous team. They just came off a big road win against South Alabama as they are extremely well organized team and are really dangerous going forward. They have scored a lot of goals this season and have multiple upper classman who have scored a lot of goals over their careers and on Sunday we have to be organized defensively as well as shut down those goal scorers. They have a big weapon in their throw in and we have to defend their set pieces.
Danielle LaFrance
As a defensive unit being effective with seven shutouts: The four of us back there have now been back there for a little over a year and the chemistry between the four of us has been really good. We all communicate a lot and make sure we are on the same page and that when we go into tackles that we are going into them hard and that we work together as a unit.
Individually your performance this season: We have basically come together as a team it is a really good environment to be in as everyone is pushing each other to be better at practice which is preparing us for games and it is a really competitive atmosphere and everyone is really encouraging and we are just trying to push to make it to the tournament.
UP NEXT
-Following Sunday's match, ULM will prepare for their final home game of the 2016 season as the Warhawks will welcome in Troy next Friday afternoon. The matchup against the Trojans will kick at 4:00 p.m. from the ULM Soccer Complex.
