NATCHITOCHES, La. — The LSU soccer team escaped Natchitoches, La., with a narrow 1-0 victory over the Northwestern State Demons on Wednesday, as the Tigers’ Mandy Heintz scored the game-winning goal with 6:45 remaining in the contest.
“I thought that we totally dominated the game today, but we just couldn’t put any of our shots in the net,” said LSU head coach George Fotopoulos. “We played the best soccer of the season so far, even though the result might not look like it. Every person on our team played really hard out there today.”
The in-state rivals battled for more than 83 scoreless minutes on Wednesday before LSU’s Heintz, a sophomore from San Antonio, Texas, headed the lone goal of the contest past the Demon’s Tiffany Swingler at the 83:15 mark in the game.
Freshman Suzanne Drake flipped the ball towards the net with a pin-point crossing pass to set up Heintz’ header from the left side. On the play, Heintz earned her third goal of the season and Drake recorded her first-career assist as a Tiger.
With the win, LSU improved to an overall record of 7-3-1 on the season and remained undefeated versus Louisiana schools. The Tigers are currently in the midst of a 10-game unbeaten streak against in-state rivals and have not been defeated by a Louisiana school since 1999. LSU fell to Tulane, 3-0, on Sept. 22 that season.
“We outshot them 19 to 5 and we were able to keep the ball on their side of the field for most of the game,” Fotopoulos said. “It was very similar to the game that we played against UL-Monroe last week, except that we were able to come away with a big win today.”
Northwestern State fell to an overall record of 4-5-1 on the season and lost its second-straight contest. The Demons own a 2-3-1 mark versus Louisiana schools this season. They defeated both UL-Lafayette (5-2) and Nicholls State (1-0) on the road.
Fotopoulos, LSU’s second-year head coach earned the 22nd win of his tenure in Baton Rouge on Wednesday. With the victory, he moved into a tie with former LSU head coach Miriam Hickey for first place on the Tigers’ all-time win list. Fotopoulos needed only 32 games to reach the mark, while Hickey required 40 contests.
The Tigers remained undefeated against Northwestern State and own a 3-0 record against the Demons. LSU has not allowed a goal in the series and has outscored Northwestern State, 6-0, in three matches. Wednesday’s contest was the first played at Demon Field in Natchitoches, La.
The LSU soccer team will next be in action on Sunday, Oct. 14, as the Tigers play their final Southeastern Conference home game of the regular season against the South Carolina Lady Gamecocks at 1 p.m. in the LSU Soccer Complex. Admission is free for LSU students, $5 for adults and $3 for children under 12.