BATON ROUGE — Junior forward Joleen Phillips scored two goals and sophomore midfielder Caroline Vanderpool tied the LSU single-game record with three assists to lead the LSU soccer team to a 4-0 shutout of Jackson State on Sunday at the LSU Soccer Complex.
The Tigers improve to 3-2 on the season and 2-0 all-time versus Jackson State (2-2), and have posted three consecutive shutouts for the first time since 2002. LSU head coach Brian Lee said he was pleased with what his team was able to accomplish and that he has been encouraged by the defensive effort given by the Tigers in the last three matches.
“It went pretty well for us today,” Lee said. “It speaks well of our back line and the midfield defending, even the forward defending, to be able to post three shutouts in a row. We’re well aware that we will be tested even more in the days and weeks to come and we need to continue to improve.”
Freshman defender Veronica Godbolt scored the first goal of the match for the Tigers at the 5:54 mark of the first half by heading a ball past the goalkeeper on a corner kick by Vanderpool. It was Godbolt’s second goal of the season and second in as many games as she scored the first goal of her young career against Belmont on Friday.
Phillips scored her first goal of the game with only 3:22 remaining in the first half on a combination from Vanderpool and sophomore midfielder Sara Pollock to send the Tigers into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
It didn’t take Phillips long to score her second goal right out of the locker room as she took another pass from Vanderpool and ripped a shot past the goalkeeper in the first minute of the second half. Phillips leads the Tigers with four goals and nine points on the season, and Lee believes her success is due to a lot of hard work in the off-season to come back from an ACL tear suffered a year ago.
“Joleen is having a great season so far,” Lee said. “To average almost a goal a game is a great strike rate for a forward, and it’s good to see Jo have success after working so hard to come back off the ACL injury from a year ago.”
Senior midfielder Kate Ripple tacked on the final goal of the match on a corner kick by freshman Leeza Iver at the 89:08 mark of the second half. It was Ripple’s first goal of the season and third as a Tiger after transferring to LSU from Texas A&M prior to the 2003 season.
The Tigers dominated in every phase of the game as they held Jackson State without a shot for the entire match. LSU had 15 shots, including six shots on goal, and had nine corner kicks to just one for Jackson State.
Freshman goalkeeper Jackie Moseley did not need to record a save to earn her third-straight shutout and improve her record to 3-1 on the season.
Lee said it was exciting to finally play a home match after having matches with South Alabama and Arkansas-Pine Bluff cancelled and a match with Louisiana-Lafayette moved due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“It was great for us to play at home on a Sunday afternoon, and we were really happy with the crowd given everything that’s happened in the area,” Lee said. “Our marketing and promotions department does as good a job as anybody in the country, and it was a great environment for our fans to come watch a game.”
The Tigers will return to the LSU Soccer Complex on Tuesday at 7 p.m. to take on in-state opponent McNeese State.