Columbus Cottonmouths fall to Louisiana

LAFAYETTE, La. – Louisiana broke open a close game with four straight goals and went on to a 6-4 victory over Columbus on Friday night.

Shawn Bates scored just 1:32 into the game for a 1-0 Columbus lead. Jake Hauswirth tied the game at 14:23.

Bates had a chance to give Columbus the lead with a penalty shot at 15:35, but he missed.

At 2:28 of the second period, Andy Willigar scored for the Cottonmouths for a 2-1 lead.

But then the IceGators scored four straight to take control of the game.

The first three of those came in the second period. Those goals came by Kirk Byczynski (10:55), Adam Stuart (16:19) and Benjamin Rubin (17:44).

Bret Peppler gave Louisiana a 5-2 lead just 38 seconds into the third period.

Columbus climbed back into the game with a pair of goals. Matt Gingera scored at 6:47 and Bates added a goal at 10:47.But the Snakes were unable to get the game-tying goal. Louisiana got an empty-net goal from Rubin at 18:34.

Columbus (12-10, 24 points) dropped into sixth place, a point behind Fayetteville.

The Cottonmouths play Saturday night at first-place Pensacola.

This story was originally published January 3, 2015 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Columbus Cottonmouths fall to Louisiana."