LAFAYETTE, La. — Miku Kurihara scored a pair of second-half goals on penalty kicks to continue her hot start to the 2026 season, while Kendal Green and Alexa Ferraro each scored their first career goals to lead Louisiana past Northwestern State, 4-1,
Natalie Mayes pitched a shutout with a pair of saves in the opening half before giving way to freshman Ally Allen in the second half. Green added an assist for her first career three-point match as Louisiana (2-1-1) held a 12-6 advantage in shots and improved to 11-8-1 all-time against Northwestern State (0-4-0).
Green, playing in her 35th career match after two seasons at Cincinnati, gave the Cajuns a 1-0 lead after intercepting a pass deep in the Demon zone and scoring her first career goal in the 19th minute.
Louisiana scored on a pair of penalty kicks in a span of 1:08 to build a 3-0 lead. After a video review showed an NSU defender committed a foul in the box, Kurihara converted her fourth goal of the season in the 62nd minute for a 2-0 lead.
A second foul in the box, this one on Louisiana's Sydney Byrnes in the 63rd minute, sent Kurihara back to the spot. She converted for her fifth goal of the season.
NSU, which was outscored 19-0 in matches against Oklahoma, LSU and Houston to open the season, got on the board in the 70th minute after Louisiana was called for a handball in the box. Iesha Rollins converted into the lower left corner.
Ferraro closed out the scoring for Louisiana in the 82nd minute, taking a pass from Green and finishing into the upper right corner of the goal.
Head coach Chris McBride said the team's ability to manage lineup changes and rotations has been a strength this season.
"Practices have been very competitive, and that's translating to the games," McBride said. "We've got good body language and good attitudes when things happen in games, and we have changes and we have different rotations, so the group are handling that really well, and that comes from really our three captains Lily Parker, Natalie Mayes and Sydney Byrnes. It's stuff that we need to do in order to get us prepared for the season, because when conference comes, the change in an opponent and the change in style is what you really have to handle."
The next game will be against Nicholls august 27th at home.
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