BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team used a school-record seven, second-half goals on Sunday to defeat the Nicholls State Colonels, 9-0, at the LSU Soccer Complex.
With the shutout victory, the Tigers recorded their eighth-consecutive home win against an in-state rival and remained undefeated versus Louisiana schools in 13th-straight contests. LSU has not been defeated by an in-state opponent since the arrival of head coach George Fotopoulos in 2000.
“We’re definitely pleased with how we’ve been playing lately, but we’re a tired team right now,” said third-year coach Fotopoulos. “This was our sixth game in 12 days and that’s a lot of games, so our team is a little worn out, but it was good for us to get a win today. We played much better in the second half and right now we just want to concentrate on playing McNeese (State) on Wednesday.”
LSU (5-1) earned its third-consecutive shutout victory on Sunday and its fourth of the 2002 campaign. The Tigers have outscored their opponents 24-2 this season and 20-0 in their last three games. LSU defeated Loyola (N.O.), 7-0, on Wednesday and Louisiana-Monroe, 4-0, on Friday.
Nicholls State (2-2-1) snapped its three-game undefeated streak and allowed nine goals for the first time this season. In their season-opening contest, the Colonels gave up seven goals in a 7-1 defeat versus North Texas.
Mandy Heintz, LSU’s phenomenal forward from San Antonio, Texas, scored her ninth and 10th goals of the season on Sunday. With the pair of goals, she moved into fourth place on LSU’s all-time scoring list with 14. Heintz trails only Jackie Cooper (36), Kara Dean (18) and current teammate Ashley Mitnick (17).
Mitnick, LSU’s all-time leader in assists (17), scored the 17th goal of her illustrious career on Sunday as she converted on a penalty kick at the 49:31 mark in the game.
“Mandy Heintz, once again, played outstanding today,” said Fotopoulos. “I mean, she’s scored eight goals in three games and that’s pretty hard to do. She’s scored a lot of goals for us so far this season and she’s been a really good leader. It’s been really good for us that she and Artie Brown have started to click a little bit together.”
Artie Brown recorded a goal and an assist in the first half of play against Nicholls State. She and Mitnick both assisted on Heintz’ first goal of the afternoon before scoring her own goal at 14:50 in the game. The goal was scored on a picture-perfect, give-and-go play from Heintz.
In the second half of play, LSU’s Melissa Shelton scored once while Suzanne Drake scored back-to-back goals. The Tigers also tacked on unassisted goals from Jenn deHay and true freshman Lisa Newton.
LSU dominated the flow of the game on Sunday and outshot the Colonels, 50-5.
Half of the Tigers shots were on goal and Nicholls State’s keeper Paige Brenner was forced to make 16 saves. Robyn DesOrmeaux, LSU’s sophomore goaltender, made one save on one attempt.
“I have to give all of the credit to our defense,” said DesOrmeaux. “They do such a great job and its hard for the other team to even get any shots on goal. When they keep the opponent’s shots to a minimum, I don’t have to do much work, so it’s a credit to how well our defense has played.”
The LSU soccer team will next be in action on Wednesday, Sept. 18, as the Tigers travel to Lake Charles for another in-state battle against McNeese State at 4 p.m.
LSU (5-1) def. Nicholls State (2-2-1), 9-0
NSU 0 0 – 0
LSU 2 7 – 9
Scoring: LSU, Heintz (9) 11:29 (assists Mitnick, Brown), Brown (2) 14:50 (assist Heintz), Mitnick (1) 49:31 (penalty kick), Heintz (10) 66:27 (assist Shelton), Shelton (1) 69:21 (assist Keating), Drake (2) 74:08 (assist Marschall), Drake (3) 77:26 (assist Marschall), deHay (2) 78:07 (unassisted), Newton (1) 83:55 (unassisted).
Yellow Cards: Nicholls State, Jones 58:33, Genevieve Duryee 65:22.