BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team leads the rest of the Southeastern Conference by having three of its members named to the SEC All-Freshman Team for their outstanding play this season as announced by the league office Tuesday.
Defender Chelsea Potts, forward Michelle Makasini and midfielder Malorie Rutledge have earned recognition among the league’s top freshmen as Georgia follows with two selections to the team, and Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss and South Carolina each have one.
“We knew coming in that we signed one of the top freshman classes in the country, and they proved that by how they played and competed on the field this season,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “This is just further proof that we’re committed to bringing in the top recruits in the country and that this program is sure to have great success in the very near future.”
Potts, who is also one of two Tigers to earn Second-Team All-SEC recognition along with sophomore forward Roslyn Jones, is quickly becoming one of the top center backs in the country as she started all 20 games for the Tigers this season and is sure to lead a talented LSU back line for the next three years.
Makasini finished the season as the SEC’s second leading scorer with 11 goals and tied the LSU freshman record of 29 points previously set by former Tiger Stacy Bishop in the 2003 season. The Euless, Texas, native was also named SEC Freshman of the Week a league-leading four times and was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week once.
Rutledge came to Baton Rouge from Sharpsburg, Ga., as one of the top recruits in the country and started all 20 games for the Tigers this season while playing primarily as an outside midfielder. Widely considered one of the top 1 v 1 players in the country, Rutledge finished the season with a pair of goals and four assists for a total of eight points.
“These three young ladies have tremendous careers ahead of them at LSU, and I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to coach them for the next three years,” Lee said. “The success of any program is built on the type of player that it recruits, and they are certainly the kind of players we want by the way they represent this university on and off the field.”
LSU’s signing class received a No. 7 national ranking by Soccer Buzz Magazine in the spring with Makasini and Rutledge each being named a Soccer Buzz Top 75 Recruit and Potts earning recognition as a Soccer Buzz Top 100 Recruit. Each has certainly lived up to their billing and has provided a solid foundation for the future success of the program.
SEC All-Freshman Team
F, Carrie Patterson, Georgia
F, Giuleana Lopez, Kentucky
F, Michelle Makasini, LSU
M, Kim Schleif, Arkansas
M, Gabi Rivera, Auburn
M, Malorie Rutledge, LSU
D, Lauren Hyde, Florida
D, Chelsea Potts, LSU
D, Danielle Johnson, Ole Miss
D, Blakely Mattern, South Carolina
GK, Michelle Betos, Georgia