BATON ROUGE – The LSU soccer team (4-1-1) put on a strong second half performance highlighted by a brace from junior midfielder Ida Hermansdottir to defeat UL-Lafayette (4-1-3) by a score of 3-1 on Sunday night at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
“I think it was just a really important night for us to get a win. Obviously, there is state pride on the line against a rival like ULL. I thought they came out with a really good game plan and stifled us early in the game,” said head coach Sian Hudson. “We just had to be patient in possession and continue to create chances and just have the belief that we were going to find goals there.”
“We had a lot of opportunities tonight; a lot of goal entries and hit the crossbar a couple of times. We are just really happy to get the win and now we look forward to a big weekend over in California next week.”
LSU handed UL-Lafayette their first loss of the 2024 campaign on Sunday night. The Ragin’ Cajuns were undefeated in their first seven matches and had also only conceded four goals, making LSU’s three goal tally that much more impressive.
The first half started slow as both teams tried to find their momentum and put the first goal on the board. Hermansdottir and forward Sage Glover both recorded shots on goal early in the first half for the Tigers, but both shots were saved by ULL’s goalkeeper Natalie Mayes.
In the 22nd minute, midfielder Danielle Shannon fired a shot from distance that was just inches from flying into the net.
UL-Lafayette opened the scoring in the match in the 25th minute, when Ragin’ Cajuns midfielder Lucy Ortiz slotted home a ball past LSU goalkeeper Audi Scheving. Megan Bradley provided the assist on the opening goal.
In the 34th minute, Tigers freshman forward Amy Smith blasted a shot on goal at ULL’s Mayes, but Mayes made a great save to keep the powerful effort out of the net.
The Tigers outshot the Ragin’ Cajuns 11 to three in the first half, but couldn’t find the back of the net as the first half ended 1-0 in favor of UL-Lafayette.
LSU was inches from tying the match in the opening seconds of the second half as Mollie Baker laced a shot onto the left side of the goal, but ULL’s Mayes was up for the challenge and made an excellent save to deny Baker of the equalizer.
LSU found the breakthrough they were looking for in the 60th minute of the match. Midfielder Gabbi Ceballos took a clearance from a Ragin’ Cajun and fired a beautiful shot from just outside the top of the box past Mayes to tie the match and make the score 1-1 on the night.
“The first goal from Gabbi Ceballos was absolutely crucial for us. She’s had a fantastic weekend all around, and it was so great to see her get her first goal in Purple and Gold,” said Hudson.
It was her first goal in the Purple & Gold since transferring to LSU. Ceballos recently tallied her first assist in the squad’s last match against Utah, and she now adds a goal to her stat line in the same week.
LSU’s Sage Glover shook off an earlier injury in the first half and almost put LSU ahead in the 64th minute, when she hit the top of the crossbar with a shot from the left side of the Ragin’ Cajun goal.
In the 78th minute, LSU’s midfielder Danielle Shannon was brought down in the box to win a clutch penalty kick for her team by the head referee. Ida Hermansdottir stepped up to the spot and blasted the penalty past ULL’s Mayes, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Just thirteen seconds after the penalty was scored, Hermansdottir took advantage of a mistake from Natalie Mayes. Mayes played the ball right to the feet of Hermansdottir, and all she had to do was chip the ball over the ULL keeper for her second goal of the match and to extend the Tiger lead to 3-1.
“Ida just smashed home the penalty kick. And then what a second goal. She had so much composure to put one over the keeper there just 13 seconds later,” Hudson added.
Hermansdottir’s back-to-back goals were only 13 seconds apart, breaking the LSU records for both the quickest time between goals scored and the quickest time between goals scored by one player. The Reykjaciv, Iceland native now owns 15 goals in her career as she tallied the first brace of the year for the Tigers.
The previous record of quickest goals scored was held by two separate pairs of goal scorers: Ashley Mitnick and Rachel Cohen vs. Alabama on 10/13/2000, along with Roslyn Jones and Rachel Yepez vs. Memphis on 9/6/2007. The one player record was previously held by Melissa Clarke, who scored two goals in a span of 38 seconds against Arkansas on October 31st, 2008.
LSU came out strong in the final 45 minutes of the match, not to mention a clutch performance from Hermannsdottir, scoring all three of their goals in the second half.
The Tigers finished the night with a season high 29 shots against the Cajuns, with 12 of those being on target on combined efforts from Hermannsdottir, Ceballas, Glover, Smith, Galligan and Baker.
LSU will head out to the West Coast in the upcoming week for a two-game slate in California. The Tigers will take on San Francisco on Thursday, September 12, at 8 p.m. CT, and UC Davis on Sunday, September 15, at 2 p.m. CT. Both of the matches will be streamed live on ESPN+, and live stats will be available on lsusports.net.
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