BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Michelle Makasini continues to receive national recognition for her performance on the pitch this weekend as she was named the Soccer America Women’s National Player of the Week as announced by the publication Tuesday.
Makasini, who was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, has also been named to the Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week, the Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the Week and the Top Drawer Soccer Women’s College Team of the Week.
The sophomore from Euless, Texas, also earned her first Louisiana Sports Writers Association Soccer Player of the Week honor of the season as announced by the organization Tuesday.
In what has been a season of firsts for the LSU soccer program, this marks the first time in its 13-year history that a Tiger has been named the National Player of the Week by any publication.
“Michelle has worked hard to be fitter, faster and stronger in 2007, and I am happy she is coming into top form as we enter SEC play,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “She plays an important role in our attack and helped us come away with two big results this weekend. I’m really proud of our team for getting two results that will go a long way in getting an at-large NCAA bid.”
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) to their first win in program history over an opponent ranked among the top 10 teams in the nation.
She scored the game-winner against the Lady Volunteers in the 21st minute of play while she put the game out of reach in the second half with her second goal of the match in the 82nd minute.
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 of the second half.
On the strength of Makasini’s performance, the Tigers finished the weekend with a pair of historic results and have earned their first ever national ranking in program history as they are currently the 19th-ranked team in the country in the latest Soccer America Top 25 released by the publication on Monday morning.