CARY, N.C. — Freshman goalkeeper Mo Isom saw her first action in an LSU uniform Saturday morning and pitched a pair of shutouts to lead the LSU soccer team to a pair of 0-0 draws against ACC powers North Carolina and Duke at WakeMed Soccer Park.
Isom, who signed with the Tigers as one of the nation’s premier goalkeeper recruits for the Class of 2008, enrolled at LSU for the spring semester in order to get her first taste of Division I college soccer before the start of the 2008 season in the fall.
“I was excited to see Mo have such a solid debut,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “She showed great poise and confidence for a kid that could still be in high school. Her punts and her kicking ability add a whole new dimension to our team. She has won the trust of her teammates in the last month she has been with us, and her performance today was not a surprise to anyone.”
The Tigers opened their difficult spring exhibition season with a double header featuring two of the nation’s premier programs at the site of the 2008 NCAA Women’s College Cup.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better start to our spring season than to compete the way we did against two of the Top 10 programs in the country,” Lee said. “It was a lot like playing in the College Cup in many ways with the facility and the level of competition. I’m very pleased with how our kids responded to the challenge.”
The Tigers earned a 0-0 draw against arguably the most storied program in all of women’s college athletics in North Carolina. The Tar Heels have dominated the landscape of women’s college soccer over the past three decades as they have won an unprecedented 18 national titles.
“It was a great step for our program to play an even game against a team like North Carolina,” Lee said. “Their history and tradition speaks for itself. When someone talks about college soccer, North Carolina is the first team that comes to mind. That was a great step forward for our kids.”
Following a brief intermission, the Tigers battled Duke to a 0-0 draw after falling to the Blue Devils by a 2-0 margin during the spring exhibition season in 2007.
The Blue Devils threatened to take a 1-0 lead with 15 minutes to play, but Isom made a brilliant diving save to deny Duke midfielder CJ Ludemann the go-ahead goal. Ludemann found an opening in the LSU defense and rifled a shot from 30 yards out toward the top-right corner of the frame, but Isom dove to her left and punched the ball away to keep the shutout intact.
LSU followed with a scoring opportunity of its own with just five minutes remaining in the game when a four pass combination in the midfield finished with a through ball to junior Roslyn Jones and a one-on-one situation with the Duke goalkeeper.
Jones took a touch and attempted to slot the ball into the left side of the net, but Duke’s Cassidy Powers was up to the challenge and denied the Tigers their first goal of the spring season.
“We followed a great game against North Carolina with another great effort against Duke,” Lee said. “I thought our kids took the field prepared and ready to compete against two of the elite programs in our sport. Our team took a big step forward today. We’ve got two weeks to prepare for Texas A&M when we’ll have another opportunity to improve against a big-time opponent.”
The Tigers continue the spring exhibition season with a trip to College Station, Texas, on March 2 to take on Big 12 powerhouse Texas A&M at the Aggie Soccer Stadium. Kickoff for the match has yet to be determined.