LSU Soccer Picks Up 2 Points

After opening up the conference slate with a late fluke loss to Vanderbilt, LSU took a small step in the right direction with two draws against Alabama and Mississippi State.

The draw in Tuscaloosa on Thursday night was the sixth straight contest between the two schools that went to extra time and the third draw in that same stretch. LSU opened the scoring just five minutes in when Lucy Parker lofted a perfect pass into the box that Nicole Howard popped over Alabama goalkeeper Kat Stratton’s head.

LSU goalkeeper Carolina Brockmeier was solid all night with nine saves, but she let in an equalizer in the 49th minute when LSU conceded a corner that was taken by Emma Welch and headed in by Christina Maartensson just after halftime. Alabama fired off a grand total of 44 shots, but only 12 of which were on target compared to LSU’s eight shots, four of which were between the posts. However, the Tigers could not fire off a shot in the two overtime periods, and had to play defense to see through the draw.

On Sunday, LSU equalized and went ahead before giving up an equalizer of their own against Mississippi State. The visiting Bulldogs put the first point on the board when Mallory Eubanks took a shot after some buildup that beat Brockmeier to the inside of the right post. State took that lead into halftime but in the second period Debbie Hahn played a deep ball into the box intended for Zoe Higgins. Higgins came down with the ball but was mobbed and had to drop the ball off to Alex Thomas, who cooly finished from six yards out at an angle into the far right post.

LSU doubled their lead in the 63rd minute when Thomas finished a penalty kick awarded to the Tigers after Tinaya Alexander was pulled down by a Bulldog defender after she breezed past her. The goalkeeper Perez slid to her left while Thomas pushed the ball to the right of center.

Four minutes before LSU could clinch the win, MaKayla Waldner knocked in a header that crossed Brockmeier up.

LSU fired off three more shots to bring their game total to eight, with five shots landing on target. That still was less than State’s 12 shots, six of them went in from of goal.

LSU falls to 7-1-2 on the year after the two draws, but faces two teams both at the bottom of the SEC: Kentucky and Georgia. The Kentucky match will be at 6:30 in Lexington on Friday and the Tigers will have the weekend off for homecoming before hosting Georgia next Friday at 6:00. Both games will be broadcast online only on SEC Network+.