BATON ROUGE – In her collegiate debut, freshman striker Addie Eggleston scored two goals and dished out three assists to lead the 20th-ranked LSU soccer team to a dominating 8-0 shutout of the South Alabama Jaguars in its 2010 season opener Sunday afternoon at the LSU Soccer Complex.
It only took Eggleston a little more than 16 minutes to match the LSU school record for assists in a single game as she made the final pass on each of the Tigers’ first three goals to open the game while she helped put the match out of reach with a pair of goals in the second half of her debut.
LSU (1-0) is now 11-4 all-time in season openers and 3-0 all-time against South Alabama (0-2) to begin a campaign. The 8-0 score on Sunday is the team’s second-largest margin of victory in a season opener.
“I wasn’t really expecting anything like that in my first game, but we just kept pushing and I got some big through balls and we finished our chances today,” Eggleston said. “We connected passes really well today and kept up the pressure. Brian said just keep pushing no matter the score and play defense as well. That’s what we wanted to do today. It was big when we broke through with that first goal.”
Junior transfer Natalie Martineau got the ball rolling for the Tigers in the 10th minute of play as she scored her first goal of the season after receiving a pass from Eggleston in the area and lofting a high volley over a leaping South Alabama goalkeeper from 12 yards in front of the net.
Minutes later, Eggleston again played the ball into the area to fellow freshman midfielder Nina Anderson, who was streaking across the top of the six-yard box. While shielding a defender away from the ball, Anderson buried a right-footed shot at the 12:24 mark for her first goal as an LSU Tiger.
Sophomore Carlie Banks then scored back to-back goals in the 17th and 28th minutes to give the Tigers an easy 4-0 advantage. At the 16:57 mark, Banks fired a one-timer into the back of the net from inside the six-yard box on a beautiful cross into the area by Eggleston from the right flank. Banks struck again at the 27:42 mark with a rifle shot from 20 yards out that found the net just beneath the crossbar.
The Tigers took a commanding 5-0 lead into the halftime break as freshman forward Kaley Blades scored unassisted in the 38th minute of play after blocking an attempted clearance by the Jaguar keeper.
Eggleston then added her name to the scoresheet with two goals in the second half to put the match out of reach. The Houston native made it 6-0 at the 50:49 mark when she made a brilliant step over move to free herself from a defender and fired a shot inside the right post from the top of the penalty area. She then ran onto a perfectly slotted through ball by fellow freshman Shannon McLain and chipped a shot from the top of the box over a charging goalkeeper to give LSU a 7-0 lead at the 71:50 mark.
Sophomore Reyna Lubin provided the final margin in the game with her first goal of the season in the 84th minute with a rocket into the top-left corner of the net reminiscent of Banks’ goal in the first half.
“This is a great starting point for our young team. I thought we played really well going forward and were really good and patient in the attack. We also saw some maturity from some young players that we’re excited about,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We’ve got some things to sort out back defensively, but we’re going to be much better. It’s just a great start to the season for our team.”
Junior goalkeeper Mo Isom was brilliant in leading the Tiger defense to a shutout in its season debut with the 20th clean sheet of her collegiate career. She made six saves on the afternoon to keep the Jaguars off of the scoreboard, including saves on scoring opportunities by Kristen Sutton in the 39th minute and back-to-back saves on chances by Clarissa Hernandez and Brandi Smith in the 66th minute of play.
Isom is quickly closing in on the SEC record for shutouts in a career as she is currently on the cusp of the Top 10 and within striking distance of the 33 saves recorded by Auburn’s Megan Rivera from 2001-04.
“Let’s start defensively with Mo Isom. I thought she had one of the better games she’s had in her career at LSU,” Lee said. “She’s taken big steps forward in the last six months and all of her hard work paid off for her in the game today. They could’ve easily had a couple of goals and she made some big saves for us.”
LSU was dominant from the opening kickoff as the side finished the game with a decisive 22-8 advantage in total shots and a 14-6 edge in shots on goal. Each team attempted two corner kicks on the afternoon.
The Tigers go on the road next weekend as they take on the 18th-ranked Memphis Tigers in a crucial early season match on Saturday at 7 p.m. CDT at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.
“We play Memphis on Saturday, and they’re going to be a big step up from South Alabama,” Lee said. “I know Memphis is a Top 20 team that is in the NCAA Tournament every year, so it’s going to be quite the challenge for our young team on Saturday against one of the best teams in the country.”