LIVE STATS
LAKE CHARLES – After weeks of preparation and hard work, the wait is finally over! The McNeese women's soccer team officially opens up the 2016 season Wednesday evening when it travels to Ruston to take on the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters at 6 p.m.
The Cowgirls have spent the last two weeks preparing for their season opener by battling through the summer heat along with a pesky weather system that dumped torrential amounts of rain across Louisiana. However, new head coach
Drew Fitzgerald is excited about the mindset of the McNeese squad, who was able to squeeze in two exhibitions matches and outscored its two opponents, 7-1.
"The team is more than ready to start the regular season and we are grateful for the opportunity to open up against really good competition," said Fitzgerald. "The players didn't appreciate the extra days of preseason training as much as the coaches did, so they are ready to go. We don't spend too much time preparing for particular opponents this early in the season so as a coaching staff we are really interested to see how the players adjust on the fly and see who really steps up and leaves their mark on the game."
McNeese returns nine starters and 21 letterwinners along with 90 percent of its scoring from last year's team. Senior
Bettina Brulhart and junior
Gabi D'Alesandro combined for 21 points (seven goals and seven assists) in 2015.
The Cowgirls are happy to welcome back offensive weapons
Savannah LaRicci and
Kayla Goedicke who sat out last season due to injury. LaRicci led the team in points with 15 in 2014.
"I'm really excited to start out first regular season game because we've been working super hard during preseason with two-a-days," said LaRicci. "I think we have a really talented and close knit team this year that's going to do great things!"
Louisiana Tech (1-0) opened its season up last Friday with a 2-1 victory over Lamar. The Lady Techsters returns six starters and 19 letterwinners from a 2015 squad that finished 12-8-1.
"Louisiana Tech is a good Conference USA team having finished over .500 in a very competitive league," said Fitzgerald. "They've been especially difficult to break down at home over the past two years and we look forward to the challenge. They play a formation we don't see a lot of throughout the year so it is always interesting to match up against them and see what adjustments both sides need to make. Our spring match with them got fairly intense so hopefully the game will be an exciting one from start to finish."
McNeese and Louisiana Tech have met six times on the pitch with each squad capturing three wins in the series. The Cowgirls took the last meeting between the two teams back in 2013 with a 4-2 victory. McNeese has never won a match in Ruston.
Wednesday's match will be streamed live on CUSA.TV while fans can also follow @McNeeseSoccer on Twitter for live in-game updates.
McNeese will host its home opener Friday, Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. against Texas State in Lake Charles.
