BATON ROUGE — LSU sophomore defender Ashley Mitnick was named to the 2000 Soccer Buzz All-Central Region second team for her stellar performance, while the LSU soccer team was named the most improved team of 2000 with a final record of 15-6, a 10 1/2 game improvement over their 1999 finish of 4-15-1.
After being named to the Freshman All-Central Region team in 1999, Mitnick becomes the second Tiger to be honored as a member of the main All-Region team. Former Tiger Jackie Cooper was the first named to the team in 1996. Mitnick was also named to the Second Team All-SEC for the second time in 2000.
Mitnick finished the season with seven goals and eight assists, totaling 22 points to put her at second statistically on the team. Her eight assists led the team and seven goals was tied for second. She tied a team single-game high with three assists in the season opener against Troy State on Aug. 25. She also scored two goals against Alabama A&M on September 15.
First year head coach George Fotopoulos led the Tigers a single-season record 15 wins in 2000. The Tigers’ 10 game improvement over their 1999 finish marks the fourth best turnaround in NCAA Women’s Division I soccer history. The Tigers also had a team record 10 shutouts led by sophomore goalie Bonnie Otillio, who had 86 saves for the Tigers.
Sophomore forward Kara Dean led the Tigers with 15 goals followed by Mitnick and Rachel Cohen, who each had seven. As a whole, LSU outscored its opponents, 50-22, compared to being outscored, 72-24, in 1999. The Tigers also improved in Southeastern Conference play, finishing this season 5-4 as opposed to last season’s 2-7. They gained their first SEC Tournament berth since 1998.