BATON ROUGE — For the first time in the program’s 13-year history, the LSU soccer team defeated a team ranked among the nation’s top 10 with a dominating 3-0 shutout of No. 6 Tennessee on Friday night at the LSU Soccer Complex.
This also marks the first win for the Tigers (8-1-3, 2-0-1 SEC) over the Lady Volunteers (7-2-1, 2-1-0 SEC) in a series that dates back to the 1996 season, while it is just their second win against a ranked opponent all-time after defeating No. 15 Florida State, 2-1, on Sept. 8, 2002.
The Tigers also shattered the all-time attendance record for the third time this season as 2,402 fans filed into the stands, breaking the previous mark of 2,160 against McNeese State on Sept. 14.
“I’m happy for the girls because they’ve worked extremely hard and deserve a result like this,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “I’m excited for the kids first and foremost. We did a great job of staying mentally focused throughout the game and were able to finish it off in the second half.”
Sophomore midfielder Michelle Makasini scored the first of her two goals on the night in the 21st minute by firing a free kick into the back of the net from 30 yards out directly in front of the goal.
The Euless, Texas, native showed her class from long range as she put the game out of reach in the 82nd minute with a 30-yard blast over the head of Tennessee goalkeeper Jaimel Johnson who came off her line to defend. Makasini is now the team’s third leading scorer with six goals and 14 points on the year, while she is the leading scorer in SEC play with three goals in three games.
“It feels great to get a win like that,” Makasini said. “We’ve worked so hard as a team to get ready for the SEC, and I think we showed that with our performance tonight. It feels really good to see that all of our hard work is paying off. Scoring a couple of goals was nice too.”
With the Tigers clinging to a one-goal lead coming out of the halftime break, freshman Taryne Boudreau extended LSU’s advantage to 2-0 with her second goal of the season in the 72nd minute.
After playing a corner kick short to sophomore midfielder Amanda Carreno, Boudreau took the pass back and curled a shot just inside the upper 90 of the far post from 20 yards out in the right side of the penalty area. The native of Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, has established herself as one of the top freshman scorers in the SEC as she now has 10 points on the year.
The Tigers controlled the flow of play throughout as they attempted a total of 19 shots with five shots on goal for the match, nearly doubling Tennessee’s effort of 10 total shots and three shots on goal for the night. The Lady Vols held a 5-4 advantage in corner kicks.
Senior goalkeeper Valerie Vogler made three big saves en route to earning her SEC leading sixth shutout of the season. The Lady Vols were well on their way to scoring the equalizer in the 52nd minute when Vogler made a diving save in a one-on-one situation with standout Emily Redberg.
“It was just an unbelievable effort by our club tonight,” Lee said. “This was as complete a performance as I’ve seen in the three years that I’ve been here. We were aggressive in creating chances in the attacking third, and our back line stayed organized and focused the entire time. It’s important that we bring the same effort and intensity to the field on Sunday.”
The Tigers look to extend their unbeaten streak to four games on Sunday as they welcome the 18th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs to the LSU Soccer Complex in a match scheduled to kickoff at 1 p.m. The Bulldogs are off to a blistering 3-0 start in the SEC as they shut out the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks by the score 1-0 at Lady ?Back Field on Friday night.