LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- Louisiana Women's Soccer was eliminated from the Sun Belt Conference tournament Monday night after a thrilling match against South Alabama, ending in a 4-3 penalty shootout loss.

The Cajuns put up a strong fight with 17 shots throughout the evening, eight of which were on target, demonstrating their offensive pressure against the top-seeded Jaguars.

Louisiana goalkeeper Natalie Mayes received a red card in the second half for defending a goal outside of the box, leaving the team to play with 10 players for the remainder of the match.

Team captain Aila Swinton stepped up to take over goalkeeping duties, showcasing leadership and resilience during two overtime periods.

Despite the disadvantage, Louisiana managed to hold South Alabama to a draw, leading to a penalty shootout.

In the shootout, Louisiana initially took the lead by converting their first three attempts while South Alabama only managed one successful shot out of three.

However, the Cajuns missed their final two penalty attempts, allowing the Jaguars to even the score at 3-3.

Andrea Iljkic of South Alabama scored the decisive penalty in sudden death, securing the victory for the Jaguars.

Louisiana concludes the season with an overall record of 7-6-5, having shown determination and skill throughout the tournament.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KLFY. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KLFY staff before being published.

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