Louisiana falls to Ole Miss 2-1 despite late Miku Kurihara goal

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – Isabella Pontieri and Paxton Bock scored goals within a 56-second span in the first half and Ole Miss held off Louisiana, 2-1, in the Ragin’ Cajuns home opener on Sunday at the Home Bank Soccer and Track Complex.

Taylor Prigge faced nine shots and recorded a save as Ole Miss (2-0-0) improved to 8-0-0 all-time against Louisiana (1-1-0) with the previous seven meetings played in Oxford.

Pontieri put Ole Miss on the board early in the 11th minute when she took a pass from Audrey Shackelford and scored past Natalie Mayes into the upper right corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead.

After Ole Miss regained possession deep in the Louisiana zone, Bock scored on a blast from outside the 18-yard box in the 12th minute with Maizy Kluksdal credited for the assist.

Louisiana closed the gap to 2-1 in the 55th minute after Carson Glenn played the ball down the left sideline. Addison Soehn would control a ball and fired a shot into the box where Miku Kurihara scored on a diving header past Prigge.

The Ragin’ Cajuns, who held a 9-8 advantage in shots and limited Ole Miss to one shot in the second half, had a pair of attempts in the final 10 minutes as Sydney Byrnes’ shot in the box early in the 80th minute sailed right. Maiya Clark gave Louisiana another shot opportunity in the 81st minute trickled just right of the goal.

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Mayes, making her first appearance of the season, recorded a pair of saves for Louisiana with Kurihara and Glenn combining for five of the Cajuns’ nine shot attempts.

Louisiana will return to play on Thursday when it travels to face Southland Conference member East Texas A&M (1-0-0) in a 7 p.m. match. The first-ever meeting between the schools will be available on ESPN+

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