Sept. 2, 2011

Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Louisiana Tech women's soccer team played to a scoreless draw in the opening game of the adidas Gamecock Soccer Classic in Jacksonville, Ala. at JSU Soccer Field against Tennessee Tech.

With the tie the Lady Techsters are 3-1-2 for the year and the Golden Eagles are now 2-2-1.

LA Tech outshot TTU 17-8, but could only manage three shots on goal.

Having only one forward able to play hurt the Lady Techsters ability to finish in front of the goal.

 "We dominated the game, but couldn't finish," said head coach Kevin Sherry. "We ended the game with three defenders playing as strikers."

Senior Olivia Lukasewich (Woodbridge, Ontario) led the team with five shots and sophomore Taylor Dennis (Albuquerque, N.M.) and freshman Abby Sentz (Kingwood, Texas) took four and three shots, respectively. Dennis was the only LA Tech player to place any of her shots on goal with three.

Sophomore goalkeeper Caitlin Updyke (Broomfield, Colo.) stopped three shots in her sixth start of the season. The shutout is her fourth of the season, 11th of her career and is currently one away from tying teammate senior Cat Buchanan (Shawnee, Kan.) for the most in program history.

Even though the game ended in a tie, Sherry was still pleased with the effort his team gave tonight.

"Considering all the obstacles put in our way with the unluckiest preseason I have ever experienced, the team is giving everything to survive," Sherry said.

For the Golden Eagles, Ellie Iaciofano took three shots, two of them on goal to lead TTU offensively and Becca Toler stopped three shots in her first shutout of the year.

The Lady Techsters return to action Sunday against tournament host Jacksonville State at 2:30 p.m. on JSU Soccer Field. The next LA Tech home game is Sept. 9 against Stephen F. Austin at 4 p.m. at Lady Techster Soccer Complex.