BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Mandy Heintz scored four goals in the first 21 minutes of the game on Wednesday, as the Tigers defeated the Loyola (N.O.) Wolfpack, 7-0, in the 2002 home opener at the LSU Soccer Complex.
“It was a huge win for us as a team,” said Heintz after her record-tying performance. “Playing on Sept. 11 brought us together as a team and I think that it brought us together as a community. At the beginning of the game it was a really touching moment for us and it made me realize that we have a lot to be thankful for.”
Heintz, the Tigers’ junior forward from San Antonio, Texas, recorded goals at 2:37, 8:32, 12:55 and 20:46 in the contest to tie LSU’s all-time record for most goals in a game. With the four-goal performance, she tied former Tiger great Jackie Cooper’s mark set against both Memphis and McNeese State in 1996.
Heintz’ first three goals in only 12:55 set the record for LSU’s quickest hat trick in a game and she became only the sixth person in Tiger history to earn a hat trick. Wednesday night’s performance proved to be the second-consecutive home opener in which an LSU player notched a hat trick.
Last season, Artie Brown earned a hat trick against McNeese State.
With the victory, LSU improved to an overall record of 3-1 on the season, while Loyola fell to 2-2-1. The victory proved to be the Tigers’ second shutout of the season and LSU’s highest scoring performance since a 10-1 victory over Alabama A&M in 2000.
On Heintz’ second goal of the evening, senior defender Ashley Mitnick fed a picture-perfect crossing pass into the box and set the all-time LSU assist record on the play. With the assist, Mitnick surpassed Michelle McKinney’s seven-year-old record with 15-career assists.
“It feels really good to get the record,” said Mitnick. “I didn’t really think about the record until the end of last season, but when Mandy (Heintz) made the shot, it felt good to know that I did it. I’ll just live it up tonight, but then it’s back to work tomorrow.”
LSU played stingy defense throughout Wednesday’s contest and only allowed two shots by the Wolfpack. In contrast, the Tigers attempted 46 shots against Loyola and forced goalkeeper, Leila Manouchehri to make 15 saves.
Laura Klatter, the Tigers’ junior forward from Geneva, Ill., added two goals in the game, while Jenny deHay tacked on the final goal with 13:80 remaining in the contest.
“There were three things that we wanted to accomplish tonight,” said LSU head coach George Fotopoulos. “We wanted to win the game, obviously. We wanted our reserves to get a lot of playing time and we wanted to get out of here without any injuries. We did all three of those things tonight, so we are happy with that. Now we just have to concentrate on playing UL-Monroe on Friday.”
LSU junior midfielder Rachel Cohen led the team in assists on Wednesday as she upped her career total to 13. She set up Heintz’ first goal of the evening at the 2:37 point and then again at the 20:46 mark.
The LSU soccer team will next be in action on Friday, Sept. 13, as the Tigers host the Louisiana-Monroe Indians at 7 p.m. at the LSU Soccer Complex.
LSU (3-1) def. Loyola – N.O. (2-2-1), 7-0
Scoring: LSU, Heintz (3) 2:37 (assist Cohen), Heintz (4) 8:32 (assist A. Mitnick), Heintz (5) 12:55 (unassisted), Heintz (6) 20:46 (assist Cohen), Klatter (1) 38:48 (assist Hadzic), Klatter (2) 73:50 (assist Newton), deHay (1) 76:20 (unassisted).
Yellow Cards: None.