BATON ROUGE, La. – For the Lamar University women's soccer team, when it rains, it pours.
 
The Cardinals seemed poised to record their first victory of the season Sunday afternoon when Mother Nature dampened LU's plans. The Cardinals built a 3-0 lead on host Southern University less than 20 minutes into the game when continued lightning in the Baton Rouge area forced the game to be postponed and wiping out all of the stats. The game has been rescheduled for 8:30 a.m. Monday at Southern University's Jaguar Park. It will be the earliest starting time for a game in the 10-season history of the LU soccer program.
 
"We got off to such a great start," LU coach Steve Holeman said. "We're just going to have to do the same thing again Monday."
 
Paige Jorgensen gave LU a 1-0 lead less than 10 minutes into Sunday's action, scoring what would have been the first goal of her career. M.J. Eckart and Jordan Mulnix also scored for the Cardinals, both on assists from Samantha Moreno, to give LU a 3-0 lead.
 
"I thought we responded well," Holeman said. "We stayed aggressive after scoring that first goal. We were playing with a lot of confidence. We have to carry that over one more day."
 
Mulnix's goal came with 26:10 remaining in the first half. Before play could even resume, the game was halted by lightning and was never resumed. The teams waited until 4 p.m., three hours after the opening kick, before postponing game with lightning still decorating the sky.
 
According to NCAA rules, any game that is halted due to lightning needs to restart no later than three hours after the scheduled kickoff. With the forecast for thunderstorms to hit Baton Rouge again on Monday afternoon, the decision was made to start Monday's game at 8:30 a.m.
 
"It will be a little different playing at that time, but we have had practices in the morning, so it shouldn't affect us," Holeman said. "We just need to show the same intensity we did on Sunday."
 
The Cardinals will return to Beaumont following Monday's game before hitting the road again next weekend for a non-conference game at 4 p.m. Friday at Southern Miss. The following weekend, LU opens Southland Conference play at Nicholls at 4 p.m. Sept. 16 before returning to Baton Rouge at 1 p.m. Sept. 18 to close out the five-game road swing with a match at LSU in the final non-conference contest of the season.
 
The Cardinals' next home game is 7 p.m. Sept. 23 vs. Northwestern State at the LU Soccer Complex. For ticket information for all home games, call 409-880-1715, or CLICK HERE.