PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University women's soccer team rallied from a two-goal deficit behind
Giselle Laing's hat trick as the Wildcats took a 3-3 draw with the Bethel Wildcats Friday evening at Wildcat Field.
"What a performance tonight all around," said LCU head coach
AJ Ostrowski. "We dug ourselves a bit of a hole going down two, a bit of a sluggish start, but the saying in soccer is the most dangerous lead is 2-0. We kept on fighting and kept on playing our game."
Louisiana Christian (1-1-1) fell two goals back in just more than a quarter-hour as Bethel (0-1-1) scored in the 19
th and 26
th minutes to go up 2-0.
The Wildcats were able to pull one back with just 19 seconds remaining in the first half as Laing got on the ball and raced past the Bethel defenders, beating the goalkeeper to cut the deficit in half at 2-1 as the two teams went to the halftime locker room.
Set pieces caused LCU some concerns in the contest as Bethel scored twice off direct free kicks, the goal in the 26
th minute and their sole goal in the second half, which was scored in the 55
th minute to make it 3-1 in favor of the visitors from Tennessee.
But Laing would not let LCU fall at home. An
Emerith Hernandez attempt at net in the 60
th minute took a touch off a Bethel defender but fell right at Laing's feet, who punched home her second goal of the night.
Not even two minutes later, Laing and
Izzy Childs was able to isolate a Bethel defender with Childs putting a pass perfectly in front of Laing who beat the goalkeeper to even the match, 3-3.
Both teams had chances in the final 28-plus minutes, but neither could find a winner and the two teams settled for the draw.
"Our game is we never stop and we never let up," continued Ostrowski. "Something we instilled early in our team identity was to raise our level in the last seconds. We go harder than anyone else, and we showed that tonight."
Laing's hat trick was the second of her LCU career with her other being a four-goal outburst against Blue Mountain Christian in Sept. 2025. All three shots Laing took in the match went in the back of the net, netting her the second, third, and fourth goals of her season.
Ostrowski had to heap praise on his top attacker. "Giselle had practically an individual effort in the last two minutes of the first half. She was lights out tonight. It takes a team, truly, but she was a force tonight, an engine for our squad and I could not be more proud of this team tonight."
Childs took three shots and put one on frame. Her assist was her second of the season.
Hernandez took a shot, which was off target, while her assist, which came off that shot, was her first of the season.
Isabella Urbaneto,
Manoella Santos, and
Giovanna Rocha all took a single shot in the contest and put it on frame.
"They came together as a family," continued Ostrowski. "They worked together, solved problems together, and we truly had opportunities to win the game tonight, and for that I am truly proud of these young ladies. The saying 'claws up ' was true tonight as they came with the claws out for 90 minutes and battled. I couldn't ask more than that. We will clean up sine things and head into a quick turnaround against Nicholls on ESPN+ tomorrow."
The Wildcats will not take a trip down to the bayou and Thibodaux for an exhibition match against NCAA Division I side Nicholls. Kickoff against the Colonels (1-2-2) is set for 6 p.m. at the Thibodaux Regional Sports Complex and will be televised on ESPN+.
