A tough day had an even rougher ending for the New Iberia Senior High girls’ soccer team.

The charter bus transporting the team, coaches and a group of parents back home from Shreveport Thursday night was rammed into by a car in Lafayette around 11:45 p.m., shaking up the NISH contingent but apparently not injuring anyone on the bus.

“What a topper to a very long day,” said NISH coach Rachael Phillips from the scene. “We’re just driving along Evangeline Throughway and (the driver of the car) just went through a stop sign. We’re all good. Everybody on the bus is good.”

It had already been a long day as the team left at noon for the approximately four-hour bus ride to Shreveport to face No. 7 seed Byrd at Captain Shreve High School’s Lee Hedges Stadium, which is shared by four Shreveport teams, including C.E. Byrd.

Byrd beat the 26th seeded Lady Jackets 6-0 in their first-round, Division I matchup, and led 4-0 at halftime.

Phillips said she was pleased with her team’s effort.

“They played tough,” said the coach. “There’s no other way to put it. They played hard and never really quit.”

Byrd’s players were bigger than the sophomore-dominated NISH squad, but the Lady Jackets matched their physical style.

“Honestly … we rubbed elbows on them,” said Phillips.

Byrd’s biggest advantage was in the field, which featured an artificial turf playing surface. Being used to playing on the surface and at a higher pace because of it helped Byrd, said Phillips.

Anna Cavalier had seven saves in goal and Heaven Rawls had two saves for NISH.

Phillips said she didn’t have any preconceived ideas about where the Lady Jackets should have been seeded.

“The girls definitely worked hard this season and they put themselves in a good spot to get into the playoffs,” she said.

Assistant coach Don Shoopman reported about a dozen or so parents on board with the 18 players and the coaching staff. After police finished their reports at the scene, the team transferred to another bus sometime around 1 a.m. to finish the trip back home to New Iberia.