BATON ROUGE — For the second time this season, an LSU soccer player has been named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week as sophomore Michelle Makasini received the honor Monday following her performance on the pitch this weekend.
Makasini scored a pair of goals in a 3-0 shutout of then sixth-ranked Tennessee at home on Friday night to help lead the Tigers (8-1-4, 2-0-2 SEC) to their first win in program history over an opponent ranked among the top 10 teams in the nation.
The native of Euless, Texas, scored the game-winner against the Lady Volunteers in the 21st minute while she put the game out of reach in the 82nd minute with her second goal of the match.
Makasini followed that performance by leading LSU to a 1-1 draw against previously 18th-ranked Georgia on Sunday afternoon as she scored the equalizer at the 59:01 mark after the Bulldogs had taken a brief 1-0 lead less than four minutes earlier at the 55:06 mark.
This marks the second time in her young career that Makasini has been named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week as she also earned the honor on Sept. 4 of last season. In all, she has received a total of six SEC Player of the Week selections over the last two seasons as she received a league best four SEC Freshman of the Week honors a year ago.
Makasini is now the team’s second-leading scorer with seven goals and 16 points on the season, while she is the top scorer in SEC play with four goals and eight points in four league matches.
Fellow sophomore Rachel Yepez was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week back on Sept. 24 after leading the Tigers to a 2-2 draw against the newly No. 1-ranked Texas Longhorns in Austin on Sept. 18 with one goal and one assist in the match.
The Tigers followed a pair of historic results this past weekend by earning their first ever national ranking in the 13-year history of the program as they are the 19th-ranked team in the country in the latest Soccer America Top 25 released by the publication on Monday morning.