The final whistle of the LSU soccer team’s 2014 season sounded Thursday night, signaling the end of a disappointing season and the beginning of a new one.
The Tigers (5-13-2, 1-9-1 Southeastern Conference) fell to Auburn 2-0, but LSU’s focus had already switched toward the future.
“Once we were eliminated from the Southeastern Conference Tournament, we kind of approached this week with what new things do we want to see,” said LSU coach Brian Lee. “Flip the page toward next spring soccer and the fall, and make sure the game is useful.”
Although the preparation focused on the future, Auburn (11-5-3, 5-3-3 SEC) quickly returned the Tigers to the present taking the lead in the first minute of play.
Merely 36 seconds into the match, senior forward Chelsea Gandy-Cromer scored her third goal of the season.
This early goal caused Lee to change his game plan, which included moving freshman defender Alexis Urch up to midfield.
“We’ve been wanting all year to see Urch at midfield, but she’s done so well at the back line,” Lee said. “But the back line didn’t sort out so well early, so we flipped her back pretty quick.”
Offensively, LSU struggled to create opportunities tallying six shots and only two shots on goal.
The Tigers’ eight shut outs marks the second most in Lee’s tenure, trailing only the 2010 season when LSU did not score in 10 matches.
Lightening struck twice when Auburn scored 12 seconds into the second half after LSU’s kickoff by way of a turnover.
Redshirt senior midfielder/forward Tori Ball fired from close range to beat LSU junior keeper Catalina Rubiano to put Auburn ahead 2-0.
Rubiano made four saves during the second half to hold Auburn’s lead to only two goals.
Although the Tigers’ season ended with a disappointing finish, LSU’s freshmen were able to develop throughout the season.
“I think experience is the greatest teacher for them, and they certainly had a lot of that,” Lee said. “They all had typical freshman seasons where there were some real peaks and then there’s some valleys. As you get older, you find the happy medium where you have that same steady performance every time.”
LSU will return almost the entire roster for next year, and the experiences and chemistry built this season will develop through hard work on and off the pitch.
“I guess the positive out of all of this is that we will basically have the same team next year,” said junior midfielder Natalia Gomez-Junco. “We will have the spring to work with our full team for the fall…I think we should take advantage of it and work hard for the next nine months and try to make history next season.”