COLUMBIA, Mo. – Rookie striker Jorian Baucom scored her team-leading fifth goal of the season with an equalizer in the 54th minute of play, but that was not enough as the LSU Soccer team suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Missouri Tigers in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams on Friday night at Audrey J. Walton Stadium.
The Tigers (4-4-1, 0-1 SEC) tasted defeat for the first time in the series after winning each of their previous two matches since Missouri (6-1-2, 1-0) joined the SEC in 2012. The home side extended its unbeaten run to a strong seven games as Missouri is now 6-0-1 since its season-opening weekend back in August.
The action picked up straightaway from the second-half kickoff with Missouri breaking the ice on a counter attack in the 51st minute when Kaitlyn Clark raced to the end line down the left side and fired a low driven ball across the penalty area to a charging Reagan Russell for a difficult one-time finish at an angle from 10 yards out in the right side of the box.
But the Tigers responded just over three minutes from Russell’s opener thanks to a mix up in defense by Missouri as Baucom netted the equalizer in the 54th minute of play with her fifth goal of the season.
After the ball was played into the area from midfield, Missouri’s center back Candace Johnson chested the ball into space just beyond the six-yard box and then shielded her own goalkeeper McKenzie Sauerwein from possession as Baucom took advantage and smashed home the equalizer from close range to draw the Tigers level at 1-1.
Clark’s winner on the hour gave the home side a 2-1 victory to open SEC play as she was again played through on the left side before cutting back across the top of the box and curling a right-footed strike inside the top right corner of the net. Clark got off the mark with her first goal of the season to give the home Tigers a lead they would not relinquish over the final 30 minutes of the match.
The Tigers nearly struck back with a leveler again with just over one minute to play as striker Summer Clarke was played in behind the Missouri defense in the right side of the area and crossed the ball over the arms of a leaping Sauerwein into space at the back post. A failed clearance by the Missouri defense found Baucom just beyond the six-yard box as she headed the ball toward goal, but just over the crossbar.
With LSU pushing numbers forward and chasing the equalizer late in regulation, Russell scored her second of the game with just 10 seconds to play on a breakaway finish to give Missouri a 3-1 win to open league play.
While playing scoreless in the first half, the story of the opening 45 minutes was the emergence of Alex Arlitt as a substitution in the 34th minute as the senior from Houston, Texas, saw her first action since suffering an ankle injury on LSU’s second match day of the season against Northwestern State back on Aug. 29.
Arlitt’s leadership and versatility on the pitch will prove vital throughout the year’s SEC campaign as her inclusion provided a spark in Friday’s match as the Tigers continued their road swing in Columbia.
With their Southeastern Conference opener now in the books, the Tigers will wrap up their four-game cross-country road swing on Sunday afternoon with a trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to face the defending Big East Conference champion Marquette Golden Eagles in a match that is set to kick off at 1 p.m. CT at Valley Fields. They will then host Texas A&M in their SEC home opener in Baton Rouge on Friday, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m.