It’s been quite some time since an LSU soccer team attacked opposing goalkeepers the way coach Brian Lee’s club has nearly midway through the 2014 season.
Through eight games, LSU and its collection of world-class attackers have fired off 125 shots and connected for 15 goals, which are both the most to begin a season since 2008.
Despite the Tigers’ abundance of shots attempted, the young squad has recently struggled to put balls into the net. LSU was shut out in three of the past four games, and the offensive woes have dropped the Tigers to a tie for ninth in the Southeastern Conference in goals scored.
With LSU’s conference schedule beginning Friday against University of Missouri, the squad is hoping to regain its offensive form and turn the opportunities in the attack into more points on the scoreboard.
But Lee isn’t necessarily concerned by LSU’s recent lack of goal production. The opportunities to score have been there, he said, and the shots will eventually find the net if the Tigers keep attacking with the same aggression.
“We’ve taken some good shots that have just whistled by the post, but we’ll keep working at it,” Lee said. “There’s a few we’re missing very badly, just overswinging and trying to score a glory goal instead of just trapping and passing it in. We just have to get better at a few things in the final third and in front of goal, and good things will happen.”
Sophomore striker Summer Clarke, who has one goal in the past four games, said the Tigers are creating plenty of scoring chances but have just been slightly off the mark with their shots.
“We’re getting the chances and getting the ball around goal,” Clarke said. It’s just the final kick into the net is what we’re lacking. We just need to be calm and composed in the box to get shots into the net.”
Despite their recent struggles, the young Tigers showed earlier this season that they’re more than capable of capitalizing on scoring chances. LSU racked up 11 goals through the first four matches of the year, the most since 2007, and its offensive production led to an early 3-1 record.
It wasn’t only the star players like Clarke, who leads the squad with 14 career goals, finding the net early in the season for the Tigers. Freshman striker Jorian Baucom made an instant contribution to the team by posting three goals on 14 shots in her first four career games.
Like Baucom, junior midfielder Natalia Gomez-Junco also made a quick splash during her first appearances in an LSU uniform. After sitting out all of last season because of NCAA transfer rules, Gomez-Junco recorded two goals in her first two games for the Tigers, and she’s booted a team-leading 37 shots this season.
However, Gomez-Junco, Baucom and the rest of the attack has stalled with just four goals in the last four matches, and it could spell trouble for the Tigers as they begin to square off against SEC competition.
“We just need to finish our chances because we might only get one chance, and it will be the difference in big games,” said junior forward Fernanda Piña.
But given the unpredictable nature of soccer, Lee said it doesn’t always matter which team fires the most shots during a game.
“You can outshoot somebody 20 to two and lose. It happens every weekend,” Lee said. “So we always want to be a team that deserves to win. We want to be the better playing soccer team on gameday and the hardest working team. That way when it’s 1-1 in the 89th minute, we’re more likely to score the winning goal.”
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR.