BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The LSU soccer team battled the Birmingham-Southern Panthers to a 1-1 tie Monday at the BSC Soccer Park to extend its unbeaten streak to five games heading into Southeastern Conference play this weekend.
The Tigers stand at 4-2-1 on the season, while the Panthers move to 4-3-1 with the tie.
“We had a tough first half, but at halftime we were able to regroup and had a great effort through the second half and overtime,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We were a little unlucky not to score on some chances but full credit goes to Birmingham-Southern. It was a good game.”
Senior Kate Ripple tied the match in the 62nd minute by catching the goalkeeper out of position and ripping a shot just inside the far post. Ripple is now tied with junior forward Joleen Phillips for the team lead with four goals and has scored a goal in each of the last three matches.
Lee said he is pleased with Ripple’s play so far this season and that she is a player his team must rely on if it hopes to find success in the SEC.
“Kate has a really nice goal scoring touch and it just took us this long to get her in the right spot,” Lee said. “She scored a great goal tonight. She picked her head up, saw that the goalkeeper was out of position and finished far post. We hope she can continue this run as we head into the SEC schedule.”
Caitlin Gordon ripped a shot past freshman goalkeeper Jackie Moseley to score Birmingham-Southern’s only goal on her team’s first shot of the match at the 5:25 mark of the first half. However, Moseley rebounded to save four shots to limit the Panthers without a score for the remainder of the match.
“We were much better defensively in the second half,” Lee said. “We had to shift a few people around with Roslyn Jones and Caroline Vanderpool out, but we recovered well, regrouped at the half and really played well in the second half.”
LSU outshot Birmingham-Southern in the match 12-9 with four shots on goal and had 10 corner kicks to zero for the Panthers. Each team received one yellow card, and Birmingham-Southern committed 20 fouls to 16 for LSU.
The Tigers enter the start of the SEC schedule with a five-game unbeaten streak, marking the longest such streak for LSU since the start of the 2003 season.
“We’re excited to see how we measure up to the rest of the league,” Lee said. “In terms of rhythm of play, we’re playing very well. We want to clean up the back line a bit so there are no mistakes and we’re organized for 90 minutes with no lapses. We are really close to getting to our peak performance. Hopefully that will start Friday night.”
The Tigers open SEC play this weekend with road matches against the Kentucky Wildcats on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and the Vanderbilt Commodores on Sunday at 1 p.m.