ATLANTA - Despite a strong second half, two first half goal were too much for the Georgia State women's soccer team to overcome. The Panthers fell to Louisiana-Lafayette 3-0 in their Sun Belt Conference opener Friday night at the GSU Soccer Complex.
Grace Howell-Harries got the scoring started for the Ragin' Cajuns in the second minute. Off of a Louisiana-Lafayette corner kick, the ball deflected to Howell-Harries, who was able to fire it past GSU keeper Brie Haynes at the near post.
Louisiana-Lafayette doubled their lead in the 22nd minute when Yazmin Montoya found the back of the net for the fourth time this season. Annika Schimdt dribbled the ball down the left flank. She then found Caroline Trahan at the edge of the box. Trahan crossed the ball to Montoya who slotted it past Haynes into the bottom left corner.
The Panthers' best scoring chance came in the 25th minute, but Jordan Young's shot was just wide of the left post. Both teams continued to attack during the first half. Neither team was able to capitalize, and the half ended 2-0 in favor of Louisiana-Lafayette.
The Ragin' Cajuns dominated the first half offensively scoring twice on four shots on goal along with six corner kicks. Georgia State attempted three shots on goal and took two corner kicks.
To start the second half Louisiana-Lafayette replaced goalkeeper Corey DeMarco with Kendall Graham.
The Panthers started the second half on the attack, forcing Graham to make four quick saves, including a diving stop of Whitney Ravan's breakaway attempt in the 66th minute.
After withstanding Georgia State's pressure, Annika Schmidt scored a goal in the 87th minute to put the game out of reach. Louisiana-Lafayette improves to 4-4-2, while GSU falls to 2-6-1.
Brie Haynes gets the loss for Georgia State. She recorded two saves on 10 shots faced. Cory DeMarco earned the win for Louisiana-Lafayette and improves to 4-1 this season. She recorded three saves on eight shots in the first half. Kendall Graham finished with six saves on 12 shots in the second half for the Ragin' Cajuns.
Georgia State continues conference action Sunday at 1 p.m. ET against Louisiana-Monroe at the GSU Soccer Complex.
