BATON ROUGE ? The LSU soccer team turned in a dominating performance as senior All-SEC midfielder Melissa Clarke scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Tigers to a 4-0 shutout of the Oklahoma Sooners on Friday night at the LSU Soccer Complex.
The Tigers (3-1-1) stretched their unbeaten streak to four matches behind another impressive game from Clarke, who has now scored four goals in the past two games and five on the season.
LSU wasted no time pressuring the Oklahoma defense as senior Rachel Yepez fired a shot that was saved from point-blank range just over a minute into the match. But Yepez would not be denied five minutes later as fellow senior and Hermann Trophy candidate Malorie Rutledge played a beautiful through ball to Yepez, who found the back of the net just inside the right post with her second goal of the season.
The Tigers continued to dominate possession and create a number of chances throughout the first half, but a strong effort from Oklahoma goalkeeper Kelsey Devonshire kept the match within reach.
Their persistence was finally rewarded in the 38th minute as Rutledge was taken down in the box by a Sooner defender and Melissa Clarke slotted home the subsequent penalty kick to stretch LSU’s advantage to 2-0. Oklahoma prevented further damage in the first half, yielding only two goals despite being outshot 12-3 and yielding four corner kicks in the first 45 minutes.
“We created some very good chances, which is the most important thing for us right now,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We finished enough to win the game. We probably had 10 to 15 quality scoring chances throughout the match against a good team. We were very good in the attack.”
LSU didn’t miss a beat after returning to the field for the start of the second half the team searched for the goal that would seal the victory. Despite missing on early chances, the Tigers found a third goal in the 61st minute when Clarke received a slotted through ball from Rutledge in the left side of the area and buried it into the far post with a shot from 10 yards out.
Freshman Natalie Ieyoub provided the final margin by scoring her first career goal with six minutes to go after receiving a pass from Clarke and firing a shot from ten yards away in the right side of the box.
LSU held the run of play throughout the match as they outshot the Sooners by a 19-7 margin, including a 9-4 edge in shots on goal. The Tigers also attempted five corner kicks on the night to four corner kicks for Oklahoma.
The Tiger defense was dominant, consistently denying the Sooner offense and distributing the ball evenly throughout the match. Sophomore goalkeeper Mo Isom saved four Oklahoma shots to earn her 10th career shutout and her third clean sheet of the 2009 season. She dropped her goals against average to 0.57.
The game also marked the inaugural “Heads Up for the Cure” campaign to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. The Tigers wore special pink jerseys that were auctioned off for charity, and four spectators donated their hair to Locks of Love at halftime. Not only that, but local military, police officers and fire fighters were honored for their service on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.
Friday’s crowd of 1,262 marked the 10th-largest crowd to ever see a match at the LSU Soccer Complex in the 14-year history of the facility.