For one weekend at least, the LSU soccer team’s place at the top of the Southeastern Conference standings was fool’s gold.
No. 8 Florida (12-3-1, 6-2 SEC) ripped the No. 25 Tigers (9-5-2, 5-2-1 SEC) 3-0 Sunday in Gainesville, Fla., compounding LSU’s 1-0 home loss to Ole Miss on Friday night to send the team tumbling from first to a three-way tie for fourth in the SEC standings.
“With the home-road setup as it was, we really needed to win on Friday knowing how tough Sunday would be,” said LSU coach Brian Lee. “We had to get to the airport for 6:30 in the morning on Saturday. Whether it was that or whatever reason, our legs were not where they normally are on a Sunday.”
Florida freshman forward Savannah Jordan fed off that fatigue, firing in a pair of early goals to put LSU on it heels.
Twenty-two minutes into the match, Jordan struck a 12-yarder inside the right post off a Tiger turnover.
Minutes before halftime, Jordan corralled a throw-in and shuffled to the top of the penalty box, where she drilled another shot inside the right post for her 15th goal of the season.
“She just got the ball and turned quick with good finishes,” Lee said. “It can be tough to defend those.”
That deflated LSU, which almost took the lead in the seventh minute on freshman Summer Clarke’s near miss.
Clarke coaxed Gator goalkeeper Nora Neset Gjoen out of the net, but the left-footed boot from close range avoided the post and kept Clarke from her ninth goal this season.
But even with the Tigers trailing, their most prolific scorer sat for the final 20 minutes of the first half and the opening 17 minutes of the second.
“Summer was just having trouble getting her legs moving,” Lee said. “It’s 15, 16 games into her freshman season, and all the freshmen are having some leg fatigue. We were just trying to get to halftime down 1-nil. She did get a longer break than normal.”
Florida added the finishing touch on junior midfielder Annie Spees’s 62nd-minute strike, as she bent a free kick from 20 yards barely beyond LSU senior goalie Megan Kinneman’s reach.
The loss came on the heels of a hard-fought, rain-soaked defeat to Ole Miss on Friday, which is now one of four teams tied with LSU.
A tough home stretch awaits, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity to the RPI-strapped Tigers.
LSU’s Senior Night match on Oct. 25 against Georgia precedes visits to ranked Kentucky and Texas A&M squads to wrap up the season.
“We need max effort in all three matches,” Lee said. “There’s maybe seven teams with some point clearance of the other teams in the SEC. I thought eight wins would win the league, and we can still get there with a hot streak. More importantly, we’ve got to work to get a bye in the [SEC] Tournament that goes to the top six teams.”