Sophomore midfielder Heather Magee taking a punch to the back of the head might have been the best thing to happen to the LSU soccer team this weekend.
The sucker punch resulted in a red card and ejection for USC senior midfielder Jordan Marada in the 28th minute, giving the Tigers a one-player advantage for the final 62 minutes of their 1-0 victory against No. 13 USC at the Minnesota Gold Classic in Minneapolis, Minn.
“It really helped us when it came to ball movement and being able to keep possession on their end,” said LSU coach Brian Lee. “They’re a very good team, so having an extra man was very helpful.”
The win ended a two-game losing streak and came two days after LSU (3-2-1) lost a 2-1 match against Minnesota.
“It was a difficult loss on Friday night, and for us to respond like this is a really good way to get us going for the rest of our games,” said senior goalkeeper Megan Kinneman. “If we can carry this game through the rest of the season and build off of it, we’ll do very well.”
LSU cashed in on the advantage in the 65th minute when Kinneman scored on a penalty kick awarded to the Tigers after senior defender Addie Eggleston was taken down in the box.
“We were playing behind them, and Addie was overlapping on the right wing,” Lee said. “It was a 50-50 ball with the goalkeeper, and the keeper came out feet first into Addie, so it was a pretty easy penalty call. And then Megan stepped up and smacked it in.”
Though Kinneman plays goalkeeper for LSU, she is also the team’s regular penalty kicker. Lee said she has the composure and temperament to be effective in that position.
“I knew that was definitely an opportunity for us, and I needed to put it in for the team,” Kinneman said. “The goalkeeper was jumping around a lot, but I still had to put it in.”
Lee expressed his pleasure with his team’s level of competition against tough opponents in the nonconference schedule. Lee said the pre-Southeastern Conference slate serves as a good tool to measure the strength of his squad.
Though LSU’s offensive productivity has dropped since its 6-0 romp against Louisiana Monroe two weeks ago, Lee said he’s happy with the team’s tempo and movement.
“We’re creating loads of chances, though,” Lee said. “On another day, we might have had two or three goals, and on another day, USC might have had two or three. We’d like to keep creating more and more chances against good teams, but we feel good about our attacking movement.”
LSU will continue its road trip Friday when it travels to Nacogdoches, Texas, for a showdown with Stephen F. Austin.