HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Freshman Amanda Carreno‘s game-winning goal in the 80th minute of the match lifted the LSU soccer team to its second straight win as it defeated the Southern Miss Golden Eagles by the score of 2-1 on Sunday at the Marshall Bell Soccer Complex.
Carreno gathered a loose ball at the top of the box that a Southern Miss defender failed to clear and curled a shot inside the far post from 20 yards in front of the net for her third goal of the season. Carreno is now second on the team with three goals and eight points on the season.
“I was waiting for that kind of shot the entire game,” Carreno said. “Their defenders kept laying it off, and I was able to step in and score it like I’m supposed to. I had some space and just took my time and put it where I needed to. This was a big win for us as we head into conference play next weekend.”
Southern Miss (2-4-1) took an early 1-0 lead in the 10th minute when forward Carly Barkley played a ball to the middle of the box and midfielder Kim Turner buried a shot from 12 yards out. The Golden Eagles held their lead through the 37:50 mark of the first half when the match was suspended for 59 minutes due to inclement weather.
The Tigers (5-4) wasted little time in tying the score as freshman Michelle Makasini scored her team leading eighth goal of the season in the 30th minute of the contest just 1:30 after play resumed. Sophomore Leeza Iver played a ball into the box from the right wing and Makasini punched in a header from six yards out.
“The weather delay was the best thing that could have happened for us,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We were lucky there was a rain delay or we would have been in at halftime making the same adjustments. We scored a little over a minute after the restart, which is tremendous that we came out and worked that hard for the last 62 minutes of the game.”
LSU kept the offensive pressure on Southern Miss throughout the match as it finished with 32 total shots and 12 shots on goal with a season high 13 corner kicks. The Golden Eagles failed to capitalize on their limited opportunities as they finished with 10 shots, including four shots on goal, and just two corner kicks.
“This was big for our young kids to fight hard and win a game like this on the road when they didn’t necessarily play their best,” Lee said. “We’ve got to be prepared to play as we move forward and have a great week of practice with the start of SEC play looming next weekend.”
The Tigers open Southeastern Conference play at home Friday when they welcome the Vanderbilt Commodores to the LSU Soccer Complex in a match scheduled for 7 p.m. in their annual “Cram the Complex” campaign. Fans are encouraged to reserve their tickets in advance as a standing room only crowd is expected for Friday’s match.
“Vanderbilt and Kentucky are going to come in ready to roll, and we’re going to have to match their intensity if not exceed it if we want to win,” Lee said. “Those are two well-coached teams and will make for a challenging opening weekend in the conference schedule.”