BATON ROUGE — LSU midfielder Michelle Makasini continues to prove her worth as one of the top freshmen in the Southeastern Conference as she was named the SEC Freshman of the Week for the third time this season as announced by the league office Monday.
Makasini helped get the Tigers off to a fast start in the race for the SEC championship with their first win in program history over the Kentucky Wildcats on Sunday by the score of 3-2. She scored LSU’s first goal of the match and assisted on sophomore Roslyn Jones‘ game-winner with just three seconds remaining in the contest.
Makasini’s goal in the 20th minute of play came at the end of a 20-pass sequence in which she took a feed from Jones near the top of the penalty box and ripped a shot that deflected off of a Kentucky defender and into the back of the net for her ninth goal of the season.
“Michelle is without question one of the best finishers in the SEC and the rest of the country,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We knew that when we signed her in February. She continues to show the class she has as a striker and a goal scorer. She’s very composed in front of the goal and continues to show that she can beat you in a variety of ways.”
This marks the fourth time this season that Makasini has received an SEC Player of the Week selection as she was named both the SEC Offensive Player and Freshman of the Week on Sept. 4 and was named SEC Freshman of the Week for the second time on Sept. 18. She is currently the SEC’s leading scorer with nine goals and 22 points through 11 games this season.
The Tigers begin a four-game SEC road trip on Friday as they travel to Starkville, Miss., to take on Western Division rival Mississippi State in a match scheduled for 7 p.m. at the MSU Soccer Field. They follow that with a short trip to Oxford, Miss., to take on the Ole Miss Rebels on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Ole Miss Soccer Complex.