BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team earned a crucial Southeastern Conference point on Sunday, as the Tigers answered four South Carolina goals and finished in a 4-4 draw at the LSU Soccer Complex.
“We tied a very good team in South Carolina today,” said LSU head coach George Fotopoulos. “They beat Arkansas, 2-0, on Friday and they are an extremely talented team. We scored four goals today, and that’s one of our best offensive outputs in a long time. Overall, I’m pleased with a draw, because we’re still in the hunt.”
With the Tigers trailing in the match by a count of 4-3, LSU’s Ashley Mitnick tied the game on a 35-yard direct kick into the upper-left corner of the goal. The score came at the 72:28 mark in the match and would prove to be the final goal of the double-overtime contest.
Mitnick, the Tigers’ junior from Lilburn, Ga., recorded her second goal of the season on the play and earned LSU its second draw of the 2001 campaign.
The Tigers also tied Louisiana-Monroe, 2-2, earlier this season.
LSU moved to an overall record of 7-3-2 on Sunday and owns a 1-2-1 mark in conference play. The draw was the Tigers’ first versus an SEC opponent since the team’s inception in 1995 and LSU’s sixth all time.
The Gamecocks recorded their third draw of the season on Sunday and moved to a 6-4-3 overall mark this year. South Carolina is 1-3-1 versus conference opponents and tied its second-best scoring output of the season. The Gamecocks scored 12 goals against South Carolina State and four against both Davidson and Wofford.
“We have a tough schedule coming up, and being 1-2-1 in the SEC is a lot better than being 1-3,” Fotopoulos said. “We needed to leave here today with a point, and we got a point. A tie is a tie, but it’s not a loss. We’re still alive right now and we just have to play well on the road.”
Both LSU and South Carolina tabbed three goals in the first half of play.
The Gamecocks’ Meredith McPartland scored the first goal of the contest at the 8:55 mark on an unassisted shot from 15 yards out. LSU then answered at 10:11 when freshman Stacie McDougall recorded her second goal of the season on a header off of a direct kick. The Tigers’ Kasey Dexter earned the assist on the play.
The Tigers continued to play aggressively in the first half as LSU’s Rachel Cohen tied the score at 2-2 before freshman Artie Brown scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season. Cohen’s unassisted goal came at the 24:02 point in the game, while Brown and Melissa Shelton hooked up to give LSU its lone lead of the contest at 33:48. Shelton’s assist was her second on the year.
South Carolina added a late first-half goal by Kanika McAlpine to tie the match at 3-3, before Becca Epstein netted her fourth score of the season at the 54:00 mark in the contest. Epstein’s goal gave South Carolina a 4-3 lead.
“We had to battle today,” said Fotopoulos. “It was a double-overtime game and we ended up with some injuries late in the overtime period. Kasey Dexter had to go out, but we had some younger girls step in and play well for us.”
The LSU soccer team will next be in action on Friday, Oct. 19, as the Tigers travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face their SEC Western Division foes, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
LSU and South Carolina play to a draw, 4-4.
USC 3 1 0 0 – 4
LSU 3 1 0 0 – 4
Scoring: USC, McPartland 8:55 (unassisted), Carter 22:48 (assist Epstein), McAlpine 40:25 (assist Julin) and Epstein 54:00 (unassisted). LSU, McDougall 10:11 (assist Dexter), Cohen 24:02 (unassisted), Brown 33:58 (assist Shelton) and Mitnick 72:28 (unassisted).
Yellow Card: Bienias, USC, 10:10; Drake, LSU, 109:50.