The LSU soccer team was without its leading scorer, sophomore forward Jorian Baucom, but that didn’t stop it from getting a critical 2-1 victory over Missouri at the LSU Soccer Stadium Friday night.
Baucom was suspended for the game after accumulating her fifth yellow card of the season last Sunday against Vanderbilt. But LSU still managed to pull through, earning a much needed three points in the Southeastern Conference standings with the victory after being in 12th place in the league entering the match.
“We feel great,” said LSU coach Brian Lee. “Obviously not having Jorian, a lot of different players had to step up. I thought the collective effort from everybody brought a lot of energy into the game. It was great to get that result, and it was even better to get it this way. Our kids handled it really well and came through.”
LSU (8-3-3, 2-3-1 SEC) snapped a 217 minute goal scoring drought entering the game. LSU put forth a solid team effort on both sides of the ball, and freshman forward Gabriela Maldonado stepped up in Baucom’s absence, scoring an equalizer and assisting on the go-ahead goal.
“Gabby gets better every day,” Lee said. “She’s really layered her season where she’s just gone step by step, getting better and getting more comfortable. She was dangerous all night. She had a very good week of practice, so i felt [confident] that she was going to put in a good performance.”
LSU outshot Missouri, 9-6, in the first half, but the teams went into halftime tied at 0.
In the 56th minute, senior goalkeeper Catalina Rubiano made a diving save after Missouri sophomore midfielder Jessica Johnson got behind LSU’s last defender and fired a shot towards the far post.
However, Missouri scored on the ensuing corner kick as junior midfielder Melanie Donaldson got her head on a pass from sophomore midfielder Kaitlin Clark and put it out of Rubiano’s reach for her first goal of the season.
Trailing in the second half without their leading scorer, the LSU Tigers managed to respond, tying it up.
Freshman forward Gabriela Maldonado scored the equalizer for LSU with 27 minutes remaining in the match. Maldonado was in the right place at the right time after a deflected shot from sophomore forward Debbie Hahn for her second goal of the season.
Six minutes later, Hahn broke away from the Missouri defense and scored the go-ahead goal off a lead pass from Maldonado.
“That’s a lot of credit to [Maldonado], especially because she had the awareness to play me through a one-touch pass right after she scored the tying goal,” Hahn said. “It was great awareness.”
The loss snapped a three game conference winning streak for Missouri (5-4-4, 3-1-2 SEC). LSU remains unbeaten at home this year, giving the home Tigers a 7-0-3 record at the LSU Soccer Stadium this season.