BATON ROUGE- Behind three goals from striker Asta Helgadottir, Vanderbilt extended the LSU women’s soccer team’s winless streak to ten games, defeating the Tigers 5-0 at the LSU Soccer Complex Friday night.
The loss virtually eliminated any chance LSU (4-12-1 overall, 2-6 in SEC play) had of making the eight-team Southeastern Conference Tournament for the second consecutive year.
“We were overmatched tonight, that’s the bottom line,” said LSU head coach Greg Boggs. “We hung in there as long as we could. It was only 2-0 with just over 20 minutes left, so maybe the score is a little deceiving.”
Kate Elia got the Commodores (7-9, 5-3) on the board just under nine minutes into play, taking a rebound off a corner kick and heading the ball past LSU goalkeeper Sara Krupa for a 1-0 lead.
Exactly 20 minutes into the match, Helgadottir got the first of her three goals. The Commodores were awarded a penalty kick after Tiger defender Sarah Gilbert pulled Vanderbilt’s Kim Szurovy down in the penalty box. Helgadottir calmly converted the penalty kick for the final goal of the first half.
Playing at home for the first time in over a month, the Tigers were unable to generate any offense of their own and were outshot 31-2 on the evening, yet held the Commodores from scoring again until the 69th minute.
Laura Koerner stripped a Tiger defender of the ball 40-yards out and dribbled in uncontested and beat Bryna Warnock, who replaced Krupa at halftime, for a 3-0 lead.
Less than a minute later Helgadottir blew the affair open, taking a pass from Natalie Taylor and weaving through the Tiger defense to set up a seven-yard blast to make it 4-0.
Helgadottir completed the hat trick in the 83rd minute when Kat Carroll picked up her second assist of the night, sending a perfectly placed corner into the front of the LSU goal where Helgadottir headed it home.
Krupa and Warnock combined to stop 12 shots on the evening for the Tigers, while the Commodore tandem of Jessie Wolfe and Katie Betzweiser needed only one stop to secure the shutout.
LSU will look to rebound on Sunday when 13th-ranked Kentucky comes to Baton Rouge for a 2 p.m. match. The Wildcats, fresh off a 4-1 win over Arkansas Friday night, have won 12 straight games.