BATON ROUGE — The accolades continue to pour in for LSU junior and Hermann Trophy candidate Malorie Rutledge as she was named a member of the Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the Week late Tuesday for the second consecutive week.
Rutledge has been a scoring machine for the Tigers this season and either scored or assisted on all three of LSU’s goals this past weekend in a 1-0 shutout of Vanderbilt on Friday night and a 2-1 win over Kentucky on Sunday afternoon at the LSU Soccer Complex.
She scored the game-winning goal against the Commodores in the 64th minute of play, which was the fourth-straight match in which she scored the game-winner for the Tigers.
Rutledge then enjoyed a record-setting performance against the Wildcats as she was credited with an assist on both of LSU’s goals in the match, including Roslyn Jones‘ game-winner in the 18th minute of play. She broke her own single-season assist record at LSU with her 13th and 14th of the season against Kentucky, breaking the old mark of 12 assists she set during the 2007 season.
Rutledge is the nation’s most prolific assist maker this season as she ranks No. 1 in the NCAA in average assists per game (1.00) and No. 2 in the country in total assists (14).
What might be even more impressive is that Rutledge has either scored or assisted with the game-winning goal in each of LSU’s six wins in the Southeastern Conference this season. Rutledge has assisted with game-winners against Mississippi State and Kentucky, while she scored the winning goal against Georgia, Auburn, Alabama and Vanderbilt.
There is no doubt that the Sharpsburg, Ga., native is a legitimate Hermann Trophy candidate who continues to lead the SEC in scoring through 14 matches in 2008. She has now scored eight goals and 14 assists for 30 points on the year, including an eye-popping seven goals along with an SEC-leading seven assists and 21 points in conference play.
Rutledge was also named to the Soccer America Women’s National Team of the Week and to the Top Drawer Soccer Women’s College Team of the Week for her performance a week ago.
Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the Week (Oct. 21)
D, Greer Barnes, Sr., West Virginia
GK, Amber Campbell, Sr., East Carolina
M, Kassidy Christensen, So., BYU
D, Dea Cook, Jr., UCLA
D, Nicole Doran, Jr., St. John’s
F, Ashley Hamblin, Sr., Missouri
F, Megan Kerns, Sr., Florida
M, Jennifer Kritch, Sr., Pittsburgh
F, Shannon McCabe, Jr., Kansas
F, Tiffany McCarty, Fr., Florida State
F, Casey Nogueira, Jr., North Carolina
F, Laurie Nosbusch, Fr., Wisconsin
F, Kelley O’Hara, Jr., Stanford
M, Malorie Rutledge, Jr., LSU
F, Katie Schopefer, Jr., Penn State