SHREVEPORT, LA. (Sept. 20, 2024) - The Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) men's soccer team allowed a late goal in the second half to lose 2-1 against LSU-Shreveport (LSUS) on Thursday. The Saints are now 1-5 and 0-1 after starting the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) schedule. The Pilots improve to 3-2-2 overall and 1-0 in the RRAC.

Head Coach Shane Hurley commented, "I'm proud of the effort the team made. We started the game not connecting very well but continued to work and found a rhythm. We produced good opportunities and should have produced a goal for our efforts. The second half continued with us starting well by producing a goal and a few high quality opportunities. We again were not clinical when we needed to be. Those chances turned against us when a ball got lost in the evening sun and found its way into our goal. We can build success upon this effort."

The Pilots put up 11 shots in the first half. Joel Trub scored for them in the 19th minute assisted by Kodai Tanaka. LSUS also took four corner kicks while the Saints didn't register any. Thiago Fernandes led the Saints with two shots, both of which were saved. Alessandro Sierra and Tim Talabi had shots within eight seconds of each other. Sierra's was saved and Talabi's was blocked. The Pilots were shown one yellow card in the half. 

The Saints started the second half strong with multiple corner kicks and shots. Their offensive pressure paid off with a goal from Alessandro Sierra on a penalty kick. OLLU continued to test Shreveport's defense with corner kicks and a header on goal in the following minutes. The Pilots were shown two yellow cards at the 75th and 78th minutes. The next play logged after the yellow card was a goal by Brandon Gasper, which proved to be the game winning goal for the Pilots. The Saints played with an advantage after Shreveport was given a red card at the 85th minute. OLLU was unable to tie the game and suffered their first conference loss of the season. 

Dominic Pena made eight saves despite the loss and is now 1-4 in net. Kyle Mcleish picked up the win in net for the Pilots with five saves. 

Both Fernandes and Sierra had three shots on goal for the Saints. The Saints had five corner kicks compared to Shreveport's nine. There were 17 total fouls with the Saints committing nine. 

What's next

The Saints play at Texas A&M University-Texarkana on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.