BATON ROUGE — Sophomore forward Roslyn Jones scored her ninth goal of the season in the 60th minute and the LSU soccer team kept itself alive for an SEC Tournament berth by battling the 12th-ranked Florida Gators to a 1-1 draw at the LSU Soccer Complex on Sunday.
Florida goalkeeper Brittni Goodwin saved a shot off the foot of senior forward Joleen Phillips but was unable to keep a handle on the ball, and Jones collected the rebound in front of the net and ripped a shot past a diving Goodwin from inside the six-yard box for her sixth goal in SEC play.
“It was a good build up for the goal, and Roslyn does that kind of stuff all the time,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “She’s finishing a chance like that 100 percent of the time. It was great for Joleen to get the assist, and I thought she played her best game of the year. We just wish we could have finished one of the other chances that we created to get the win.”
The Tigers (8-8-3, 3-4-3 SEC) were unable to keep Florida (11-4-3, 7-1-2 SEC) scoreless through the end of regulation as freshman forward Ashlee Elliott added the equalizer in the 78th minute with a blast from inside the six-yard box off of an end-line cross by junior forward Stacy Bishop.
“Their kid did a great job of getting out of a triple-team over in the corner, and they had free players in the box when we didn’t win the ball,” Lee said. “We didn’t have the numbers in to defend that kind of a shot, and it was a great goal with their player putting a shot on it from fix or six yards out in front of the net.”
Jones looked as though she would return the favor just minutes after scoring the first goal of the match by beating a Florida defender to the end line and crossing to a streaking Phillips running free inside the penalty box. Phillips slid near the top of the six-yard box but was unable to put a foot on a shot that would have given the Tigers a 2-0 advantage.
The Tigers missed another golden opportunity to put the game away in the fifth minute of the first overtime period as freshman midfielder Katherine Lagow ripped a low shot from the left side of the box that hit off the far post and bounced harmlessly out of bounds for a Florida goal kick.
“We were just a bit unlucky that a couple of our chances didn’t find the back of the net,” Lee said. “Roslyn played a great ball in to Joleen running free inside the box, but she just couldn’t quite get a foot on it for an easy goal. Katherine also put a great shot on that looked like it might curl around the keeper for the winner in overtime but was unlucky when it hit the post.”
The Gators clinch at least a share of the overall SEC Championship with the draw and sit at 23 points in the conference standings, while Vanderbilt follows closely behind with 20 points after shutting out Mississippi State on Sunday by the score of 4-0. The Tigers are still alive for the eighth and final spot in the SEC Tournament as they sit in ninth place at 12 points.
“This conference is very close from No. 1 through No. 10 right now,” Lee said. “We need to win on Friday and hope the results fall our way just to make it to Orange Beach. The growth in the SEC has been tremendous this season, and it’s great to have 10 teams fighting to finish in the top eight to advance to the SEC Tournament.”
The Tigers return to action on Friday in their regular-season finale against SEC Western Division rival Arkansas on Senior Night in a match scheduled for 7 p.m. at the LSU Soccer Complex. LSU must defeat the Razorbacks to stay alive for a berth in the SEC Tournament scheduled to begin Nov. 1 in Orange Beach, Ala.