The No. 25 LSU soccer team gave “Labor Day” a different meaning Monday night as it struggled to contain the offensive onslaught of No. 8 BYU in a 4-2 loss.
Spurred on by four different scorers, the Cougars (3-0) tormented the Tigers (2-1-1) with 28 shots, 10 of which were on goal.
“It’s certainly a step up in class with BYU, and I thought that when they pressured on our end, we unraveled a little bit,” LSU coach Brian Lee said. “When they came out and pressed us, it wasn’t as easy for our backs to get the ball into the attack.”
BYU relentlessly harassed the Tigers’ back line for the first 15 minutes of the match, but LSU drew first blood in the 20th minute when sophomore midfielder Fernanda Piña scored her third goal of the season on a cross from junior midfielder Alex Arlitt.
The Cougars responded in the waning seconds of the 23rd when senior midfielder Colette Jepson Smith scored on a deflected save by LSU senior goalkeeper Megan Kinneman. Freshman forward Summer Clarke reclaimed the lead for the Tigers in the 32nd by maneuvering around the BYU back line and finishing with a left-footed strike that found the inside of the right post.
But BYU freshman forward Ashley Hatch provided the equalizer less than two minutes later on a fairly easy run to the goal.
“We got scored on twice in the next five minutes right after we scored,” Kinneman said. “I think it’s a mentality thing we need to work on.”
BYU continued to apply the pressure after the break and eventually broke through the LSU defense in the 67th minute. Senior midfielder Rachel Manning banked a shot off the left post after a touch from freshman midfielder Elena Medeiros put the ball into the penalty box.
LSU gave up its fourth goal of the night on a BYU counterattack that ended with a score by sophomore defender Paige Hunt with seven minutes to go.
The Tigers will hit the road for their next five contests, starting with a match at Minnesota on Friday.
“We’re going to play four more really good teams in the non-conference season,” Lee said. “We’ve got to repair our confidence. I think we had a reality check against a top-10 team. We’ve got to keep working to improve every day.”
LSU sophomore midfielder Tori Sample (28) dribbles the ball downfield Monday, Sept. 2, 2013 as the Tigers faced the BYU Cougars.
