STARKVILLE, Miss. – The LSU soccer team picked up a big three points on the road Sunday afternoon and earned four points in SEC play on the weekend as it continued its domination of the Mississippi State Bulldogs with a decisive 6-2 victory on a beautiful afternoon at the MSU Soccer Field.
The Tigers (6-6-4, 3-2-3 SEC) picked up their sixth-straight win in the series with Mississippi State (7-10, 0-8) and remained unbeaten in their last nine matches against the Bulldogs dating back to 2002.
With the win, LSU moved into sole possession of first place in the SEC Western Division standings, as the team is now on 12 points with three league games to play. Alabama dropped a 2-0 decision to Vanderbilt, and Auburn played to a 1-1 draw with Kentucky on Sunday to fall into a tie for second place.
“This was a big win for our team today,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We’ve been struggling to find ourselves on the offensive end for much of the season, but our kids came out today with a mindset that we wanted to work hard to create great chances and finish those chances. We certainly did that today.”
The Tigers struck quickly in the fourth minute of play following a Bulldog turnover in the midfield with a beautiful goal off the foot of senior captain Courtney Alexander.
After taking possession 25 yards in front of the net, junior midfielder Natalie Martineau turned and played a perfect through ball to Alexander running free in the right side of the area. Alexander then took a pair of touches running at the Mississippi State goalkeeper and fired a shot one-on-one into the back of the net on the top of the six-yard box for her second goal of the season at the 3:51 mark.
Mississippi State drew level on a counter attack in the 23rd minute on its only shot attempt of the first half as senior Kat Walsh slipped a through ball to freshman Elisabeth Sullivan on a breakaway behind the LSU back line. Sullivan buried a shot from eight yards one-on-one with LSU freshman goalkeeper Megan Kinneman for her team-leading fifth goal of the season.
But the Tigers snatched a 2-1 lead before the break on the second goal of the season by sophomore striker Reyna Lubin with just 59 seconds remaining on the clock before halftime.
Freshman Nina Anderson took possession of the ball in the midfield and made a class run past Mississippi State’s right back to the end line, where she centered a pass to Lubin standing inside the six-yard box. The sophomore striker got a touch on the ball to redirect it across the goal line at the 44:01 mark.
LSU came out firing again in the second half, and junior defender Taryne Boudreau put the game away in the 64th minute as she opened her account on a 19-yard free kick. After Amy Porter drew a foul at the top of the area, Boudreau buried a low lining shot inside the left post to give LSU a 3-1 advantage.
Lubin then came back four minutes later with her second goal of the match and third goal of the season at the 67:52 mark when sophomore defender Hannah Jobe played a ball in space over the top of the Bulldog defense. Lubin took possession at the top of the box and broke free for a shot from eight yards one-on-one with the Mississippi State goalkeeper. It marked the first multi-goal game of Lubin’s career.
Sophomore striker Carlie Banks and freshman striker Danielle Murphy left no doubt of the final verdict as each scored goals in the 78th and 84th minutes, respectively.
In 90 minutes of action, the Tigers outshot the Bulldogs by a 30-10 count in total shots with a 15-5 lead in shots on goal. LSU also attempted a season high 12 corner kicks to just two for Mississippi State.
With Sunday’s match now in the record books, the Tigers will return to Baton Rouge on Thursday night as they play host to the 11th-ranked and four-time defending SEC champion Florida Gators in a match that will kick off at 7 p.m. CT in the friendly confines of the LSU Soccer Complex. Thursday’s match will be a “Gold Game” as LSU fans wearing gold will receive free admission to the match.