BATON ROUGE — LSU freshman forward Michelle Makasini continues to add to her already impressive resume as she was named the 2006 Kelly Mortgage Louisiana Collegiate Women’s Soccer Player of the Year as announced by the organization Wednesday.
Makasini becomes the fourth recipient of the award as she has been recognized as the state’s top performer along with former standouts Ashley Boutte of Southern in 2003, Artie Brown of LSU in 2004 and Heather Penico of Northwestern State in 2005.
The Euless, Texas, native enjoyed perhaps the most prolific freshman season in the program’s 12-year history as she finished the 2006 season as the second-leading scorer in the Southeastern Conference with 11 goals and tied the LSU freshman record with 29 points. She was also tied for third in the conference with seven assists and led the way with 87 total shots.
Makasini has the distinction of being the most decorated freshman in program history as she joined fellow freshman Chelsea Potts as the first Tigers to earn All-America honors for their stellar performance as she was named a Soccer Buzz Fourth-Team All-American following the season.
In addition, Makasini proved to be one of the nation’s premier freshmen as she was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team, the Top Drawer Soccer All-Rookie First-Team, the Soccer Buzz Central Region All-Freshman Team and the LSWA Louisiana Freshman and Player of the Year, while also earning SEC Freshman of the Week recognition a league-leading four times.
Makasini and the rest of the LSU soccer team faces one of the nation’s toughest spring schedules as they are set to take on such nationally-ranked programs as Texas A&M (Feb. 24), Wake Forest (March 23) and Duke (March 25). The 2007 season is slated to begin Aug. 31 with a home match against Southern Miss at 7 p.m. at the LSU Soccer Complex.