SCOTT -- Acadiana’s Lady Rams had a difficult time putting away a team riding a five-game win streak.

New iberia Senior High’s Lady Jackets went toe-to-toe with the perennial powerhouse and stayed unbeaten for another 80 minutes Friday night in a Division I bi-district state playoff game at AHS. The match was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation.

The Lady Rams scored one goal in the first overtime and two goals in the second overtime to avenge a Jan. 5 loss to NISH. The 4-1 decision kept their season alive and ended the 20th seeded Lady Jackets’ up-and-down campaign at 12-12-2.

Advertisement

“The season a whole was kind of like a rollercoaster,” said NISH head coach Dwayne Hoffpauir, whose team was making its fifth straight postseason appearance.

Hoffpauir said he was proud of the way his team played on the road for the last time in 2009-10. He said it was a heart-breaking loss.

“Getting into the overtime period we played hard but Acadiana showed why they’re seeded 13th,” he said.

“It’s an emotional game, a playoff game. From a coach’s standpoint, the girls have me everything I asked. They played with a lot of heart and intensity,” he said. “I like the way they represented themselves, the soccer program and the school.”

Senior forward Alex Bacque, who tallied the host’s first goal nine minutes after the opening kick, scored what proved to be the winning goal with six minutes to play in the first overtime when she half-volleyed a defender’s header around the top of the big box into the net to make it 2-1. Acadiana extended the lead with two more goals in the second overtime and left with a regional date on the road against No. 4 seed Dominican, an 8-0 winner over Barbe.

The Lady Rams took a 1-0 lead into haltime, thanks to Bacque.

There was no quit in the Lady Jackets. Nearly seven minutes into the second half they tied the score on a goal that had coaches and fans buzzing long after the game.

Senior center fullback Kristen LeJeune, who signed a soccer scholarship two days earlier with the University of Louisiana at Lafayett , lofted a free kick from along the left sideline about 30 yards out to the far post, where sophomore midfielder Anna Cavalier jumped high for a hard header that darted past the AHS goalkeeper.

“The set piece was beautiful,” Hoffpauir said. “Kristen played a well-placed ball to Anna. It was beautiful. You can’t draw it up any better.”

The Lady Jackets still weren’t finished. They had several more good looks at the goal down the stretch.

“We had opportunities toward the end of the game” to win in regulation, Hoffpauir said, noting shots on goal by senior forward Emily Laszczak, senior midfielder Angelle Mallet and Ashley Broussard. Broussard, a freshman forward, had a breakaway in the waning minutes and cracked a line drive shot right to left to the far post that narrowly missed going in “upper 90.”

Bobbi Tepe, NISH’s senior goalkeeper, recorded 11 saves, some of them highlight reel-worthy to keep the game close.

“Bobbi had three or four exceptional plays, incuding a point-blank stop on Bacque,” Hoffpauir said. She also had two fist-punches over the goal to deny the Lady Rams, who had six shots on goal in the first half, seven in the second half and four in the overtime periods.

NISH had 16 shots on goal, including seven in the second half comeback.