BATON ROUGE– The LSU soccer team offense combined for a tremendous effort to outscore the Alabama A&M Bulldogs, 10-1, Friday night at the LSU Soccer Complex.
“I am very pleased that we won tonight,” said head coach George Fotopoulos. “I don’t think that we were tested, but when we were tested we met the challenge. I have a lot of respect for Alabama A&M. They played from the beginning of the game all the way to the end. This is a good victory for us and a good for our offense to put out 10 goals. This should boost their confidence and hopefully carry over to next week’s doubleheader matches between Northwestern State and Arkansas.”
The 10 Tigers goals tied the most goals scored by the 1996 team against Southeastern Louisiana. LSU improved to 6-1 on the season while the Bulldogs fell to 0-7.
Freshman Rachel Cohen set the pace for the Tigers early on with an unassisted goal into an empty net 10 minutes into the first half. The goal was Cohen’s fourth of the season.
The Tigers’ second goal came from Laura Klatter off an assist from Cohen in the 19th minute of play. The goal was Klatter’s first of the season.
LSU sophomore Ashley Mitnick scored her first of two goals for the night in the 32nd minute of play on a shot 25 yards out off an assist from freshman Abby Atwell.
Atwell then came back in the 34th minute of play to score her first goal of the season on an unassisted strike also from 25 yards out.
Tiger freshman Katie Calvin got LSU going quickly in the second half with a goal in the 49th minute off a cross kick from sophomore Melissa Shelton. Calvin has one goal for the season.
Mitnick turned around and netted her second goal in the 50th minute on a shot 30 yards out with Cohen having her second assist for the night. Mitnick has four goals for the season.
The Lady Bulldogs scored their first goal of the season in the 64th minute of play when Jackie Mwangi caught Tiger goalie Bryna Warnock off her guard and hit a shot into the open net off an assist from Abria Queen.
Sophomore Kara Dean answered back for the Tigers with her seventh goal of the season in the 70th minute on a shot from 30 yards out.
Former track All-American Somalia Lindsay netted her second goal of the year off a cross assist from Shelton in the 74th minute.
Freshman Colleen Zimmerman hit her first goal of the year with a shot into the empty net in the 88th minute.
To end the game, freshman Nicole Sprung scored her first goal of the season to put the Tigers up 10-1.
The LSU offense dominated the match, outshooting the Bulldogs 39-3 on the evening. Alabama A&M goalie Jennifer Slaton had 13 saves for the night.
The Tigers remain at home with matches against Northwestern State on Friday, September 22 at 7 p.m and Arkansas Sunday, Sept. 24 at 1 p.m. The Arkansas game will be televised on Fox Sports Southeast.