Freshman midfielder Christyna Pitre is not the eye-catching, attacking midfielder prospect soccer fans drool over.
As a member of the LSU soccer team’s No. 7-ranked 2014 recruiting class, Pitre was overshadowed by the offensive firepower of freshman forward Jorian Baucom and the international flair of freshman defender Jordane Carvery and freshman keeper Lily Alfeld.
But no matter the hype surrounding recruiting in any sport, rankings and projections do not determine a player’s impact on the field.
This was the case for Pitre, whose dominance in the air on set pieces made her minutes on the field crucial for the Tigers’ success.
“[The coaches] want to keep Chrissy on the field as much as possible because her heading is very good,” said freshman defender Alexis Urch. “They said the other team is like, 0 for 47 on corner kicks [when she’s on the field], and when she’s off, they score more.”
Coming into the 2014 season, the Tigers struggled to defend set pieces and other flighted passes due to a lack of height in their defensive players.
On set pieces, the added height gives the Tigers a defensive advantage to clear the ball by putting a head on it. This is Pitre’s specialty.
“From a young age playing soccer, air balls were one thing that I enjoyed and that I was good at,” Pitre said. “I just focus on attacking the ball, just trying to find where the flight of the ball is and get myself in front of it.”
Her impact on set pieces is a reflection of her physicality in the regular flow of play.
From her first appearance in the season opener against Troy, Pitre challenged opposing attackers with clean, physical play.
Pitre’s ability to stop an attack dead with a hard tackle helped establish a tone for the young back line.
“Especially if another person makes [a big] tackle, it gets the whole team fired up, so I love feeding off of other people’s energy during the game,” Pitre said.
For Pitre, playing this style in a conference that stresses physicality required some adjustment to her play.
In club and high school soccer, the physical nature of the game depends on the region, team and coach.
While individuals may play physically, the fitness level of youth players does not allow coaches to focus on physicality like collegiate coaches can in the Southeastern Conference.
“In club soccer, I could kind of bully people, but in college everybody is that physical,” Pitre said. “You have to bring your A-game every time.”
The increase in the physical nature of the college game made Pitre’s style more taxing and caused her to battle fatigue throughout her freshman season.
Due to her vital play on set pieces, LSU coach Brian Lee had to find a way for Pitre to remain on the field for the entire 90 minutes.
In the last three matches of the season, Lee slid Pitre back to play center defender and pushed up Carvery to play center mid.
“She’s a freshman, and especially to play her style, you’ve got to be able to run and jump and fight,” Lee said. “[She] had a dip in the middle of the season that was probably to be expected, then rebounded late in the season when we pushed her to the back.”
Although Pitre played well on the back line, center back does not give Pitre the freedom to use her skills to contribute offensively.
Lee said one of the main reasons he recruited Pitre was her rare combination of physicality and a passing package, featuring a very good long ball of 30 to 40 yards.
“It’s such hard work for her to win the ball, head the ball and do the defensive things we need her to do first that she hasn’t been able to really join in the attacking side of things,” Lee said.
Looking forward to next season, Lee said Pitre’s role will depend on her fitness level, and Pitre is determined improve her conditioning over the next 10 months.
“[My focus on the offseason is] definitely my fitness level, just being able to last a 90 minute game going 100 percent the whole time,” Pitre said.
You can reach Morgan Prewitt on Twitter @kmprewitt_TDR.