WKU soccer extends unbeaten streak to six games with 1-0 win over Louisiana-Lafayette

Austin Lanter

After a 1-0 victory Friday night, WKU had a repeat performance two days later against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Senior forward Mallory Outerbridge found the back of the net in the 86th minute to give the Lady Toppers (10-5-1, 5-2-1 Sun Belt Conference) the 1-0 victory.

The win is WKU’s fourth straight shutout and brings its current unbeaten streak to six games.

With the shutout, senior goalkeeper Libby Stout became the all-time leader in shutouts for the Sun Belt Conference.

“We just keep gutting it out and finding a way to win,” Head Coach Jason Neidell said. “I had to dig into them at halftime because the effort wasn’t as good as it has been. They played better in the second half. We battled. Good teams find a way to win and we found a way to win.”

Outerbridge re-entered the game with 10 or 12 minutes left. After a couple good runs down the side, WKU knew it was only a matter of time. The 86th minute proved to be that time.

In the 86th minute, Outerbridge was able to beat the defender and find the far post for the game-winning goal. 

“She (Outerbridge) struggled a bit today, but found a way to get it done for us in clutch time,” Neidell said. 

WKU was able to get 11 shots off on the day, seven of which were on target. Neidell said those numbers are good for today, given the way they played, but the production needs to improve. 

“The only way to get more shots is to play better,” he said. “The whole weekend we weren’t in sync and we didn’t click. We need to be concentrated for longer periods of time.”

Thus far, WKU has struggled playing on the road. This weekend, however, the Lady Toppers won both of their road games, 1-0, something Neidell said is good for the team.

“It makes us feel good,” he said. “We’ve got one more difficult trip left to South Alabama. It gives us some confidence. We need to be playing our best soccer day in and day out now. Conference is all about finding a way to win.”

WKU played this weekend without two of their sophomore starters. Midfielder Chrissy Tchoula has an eye problem and defender Katrina Ott has concussion related problems. Neither player traveled this weekend and both are day-to-day. 

The Lady Toppers will be back in action at 6 p.m. Thursday against Troy at the WKU Soccer Complex.