After finishing the 2012-13 season with a losing record in the conference, the LSU soccer team was picked to finish second in the SEC West in a preseason poll of the 14 coaches in the Southeastern Conference, in part due to the influx of top-level recruits.
Texas A&M was picked almost unanimously to finish first in the SEC West, and received eight first-place votes to finish as the top-overall team in the SEC.
LSU’s team was bolstered by the top-ranked recruiting class in the SEC. Summer Clarke, Megan Lee, Emma Fletcher and Rebecca Pongetti are the four freshmen who will join the Tiger roster, and all of them sport experience at the international level.
Pongetti and Fletcher both represented their native Canada at the highest level of youth soccer. Both have played for the U-17 Canadian national team, while Fletcher has also played for the New Zealand U-17 team. Both participated in the 2012 U-17 Women’s World Cup.
Pongetti was also awarded a silver medal in the 2012 CONCACAF Championship. She became one of the only set-in-stone defenders on the roster, as many players shifted positions throughout last season.
Both were included in the 2013 Canadian Women’s National EXCELeration Camp, which featured the best U-20 players in the nation, but Fletcher was named British Columbia Provincial Youth Player of the Year for her performance in the 2012-13 season.
Lee is an adaptable player who could play any position on the left side for the Tigers. While she is primarily listed as a defender, Lee scored twice for the U-20 National Team after starting as a forward in a match against Australia.
“We saw that kind of versatility in Megan when scouting her during the recruiting process, before she ultimately decided to sign with LSU earlier this year,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “She’s really made her name at the youth level as a very talented left back, but she clearly has the ability to play left wing or even up top for us as needed when she joins us for preseason training in a couple of weeks.”
Lee was recently featured for New Zealand’s full national side, highlighting her status as one of the upcoming soccer talents in the women’s game.
Clarke will add attacking flair to the Tigers recruiting class. Also hailing from Canada, she recently won the 2013 Gothia World Youth Cup title in the U-19 division. She carried her team — the Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite — by scoring eight goals in only seven matches, including the game-winning goal in the final.
Clarke has also featured for the full Canadian national team and holds the record for most goals scored in an international tournament with six.
Natalia Gomez-Junco rounds out the stacked class as a transfer from University of Memphis. She was a standout performer for Memphis last season, scoring 10 goals and picking up two assists. She became the first Memphis player to score a hat-trick — three goals in one game — since 2007.
Gomez-Junco is also a veteran for the Mexican national team program. She participated in the U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2012 and was recently called up to the full Mexican team after being the top-scorer for the side in its World Cup Qualifying Tournament.
“Playing for our full national team was both an honor and an incredible experience for me,” Gomez-Junco said. “This experience has helped me realize what I need to improve and work on to reach a world-class level. I’ve had a great experience in the youth level, and now I have to take that experience to the senior team and be an impact player at this level.”

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