Ragin' Cajuns Soccer Opens Season At Ole Miss On Friday

LAFAYETTE - The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns soccer team will officially open the 2016 season on Friday when it visits No. 22-ranked Ole Miss in a 6 p.m. contest at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium. The match can be seen on SEC Network Plus and WatchESPN.

The Ragin' Cajuns begin the season with a rugged non-conference schedule, beginning with Ole Miss (14-5-4 in 2015), which advanced to last year's NCAA Sweet 16. Twelfth-year head coach Scot Wieland is optimistic about the season and believes that a difficult slate of non-conference opponents will help the Cajuns prepare for a tough Sun Belt conference schedule.

"All of our non-conference opponents are to prepare us for our conference opponents," Wieland said. "Obviously we want to win, and to do that we want to play teams that have good traditions and have been successful on a national stage."

Senior forward Yazmin Montoya, the school's all-time leader in points scored (53), was named to the Sun Belt preseason All-Conference first-team after recording a team-high four assists in 17 matches. Annika Schmidt (6 goals, 2 assists) and Ashleigh Cade (5 goals, 3 assists) are the top returning scorers for the Ragin' Cajuns while Cosette Morche returns after starting in a team-high 15 matches in goal and participating in four shutouts.

Louisiana will open its home schedule on Sunday, Aug. 21 when it faces Alcorn State in a 4 p.m. match at the Ragin' Cajuns Soccer/Track Complex.

The Ragin' Cajuns then travel to face Nicholls State on Aug. 26 before hosting Southern Miss (Aug. 28) and Lamar (Sept. 2). Louisiana will continue its homestand with matches against in-state opponents Southeastern Louisiana (Sept.4) and McNeese State (Sept. 9).

The Cajuns conclude non-conference play at Mississippi State on Sept. 11 before opening Sun Belt conference play at home against Georgia State on Sept. 16.

Louisiana was picked to finish ninth in the Sun Belt conference pre-season poll that was released earlier this week. South Alabama earned 10 of the league's 11 first-place votes as the Jaguars totaled 120 points in the preseason poll. Troy was picked to finish second with 102 points followed by league-newcomer Coastal Carolina with 86 points.

"The conference is tough," Wieland said. "The conference has gotten better and better every year. South Alabama is going to be good. Coastal Carolina joined our conference and they did really well last year in their conference."

Ragin' Cajuns Soccer Opens Season At Ole Miss On Friday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ashleigh Cade

Yazmin Montoya

Cosette Morche

Annika Schmidt

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics