Taylor Lahasky’s shot just past goalie Anna Cavalier in the second half was all the Catholic High Lady Panthers needed as CHS beat New Iberia Senior High 1-0 Thursday in a non-district game at Jacket Pitch.

“We played a real good side and always a tough opponent,” said CHS coach Brandon Francis. “That goes back to the earlier game that we played against them this year dropping one to them at the Rebel Cup in Pineville.

“The girls were fired up and ready for this game. We beat them 1-0 but we have another game against them and it should be an interesting matchup.”

After a scoreless first half, Lahasky’s goal at the 69-minute mark came off an assist from Kalynn Dressel, who put the ball in front of the net for the CHS senior, who deftly booted it past the NISH goalie for the only score of the game.

With the win, Catholic High improved to 5-1 overall this season. The Lady Panthers return home tonight to play Sam Houston.

The only goal came as a result of a change in strategy from Francis at halftime.

“We changed it up a little bit,” said the CHS coach. “Watching the first half we saw some of the weaknesses that NISH had and we tried to plug away at those holes.

“Finally we were able to get break in the 68th minute and were able to slide a ball across and finish it.”

Francis said that after the goal, he made another strategy change by playing a more defensive style to keep NISH (6-5-1) out of the Lady Panthers’ side of the field. The change worked as the Lady Jackets had trouble on counter attacks finding an open player or getting a good shot on goal.

“It was a hard fought game,” said NISH coach Rachael Phillips, whose team travels to Acadiana today. “It always is when these two teams collide. We knew that it was going to be a one-goal game or close to it so whoever put the first goal in was going to have an advantage.”

Phillips said the game was never going to be out of reach for her team but it was going to be a tough game all around.

The first half between the two teams was even but in the second half Catholic High was able to keep the ball in the NISH end of the field and take shots at the goal, and eventually one of them found the back of the net for CHS.

“They are an aggressive team and they pushed our defense to the limit,” said Phillips. “Their attack is always good. We got a little sidetracked on the back half and they put one in the back of the net. There’s nothing that you can do there.”

Francis said the scoring play started with Dressel taking the ball down the left flank and struck the ball into the six yard box where Lahasky finished it in classic style.

“Who would have thought that a right-footed striker would take it to the left and strike it across the grain,” said Francis. “She did and it was successful.”

Francis gave credit to his assistant coaches, Stefan Norris, Quentin LaBiche and Justin Hebert, for their hard work in getting the girls ready to play.

“We train them really hard,” said Francis. 

“We lost a lot of athleticism from last year’s state finalist team but these girls are up to the task of becoming better soccer players.”È