The field isn’t the only place the LSU soccer team is taking care of business — they’re also making strides in the classroom.
For the fifth year in a row, the Tigers earned the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic Award for their outstanding academic achievement. LSU maintained a 3.33 cumulative GPA during the 2014-15 academic year.
LSU was one of 11 SEC schools to receive this honor. The NSCAA honored 859 men’s and women’s college soccer programs across the nation this year.
Academic excellence is nothing new to the LSU soccer program. The Tigers received this award every year since 2011. Last year, 14 of LSU’s players were selected to the Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll. The 14 players joined 32 other athletes to give LSU 46 players on the SEC Honor Roll.
LSU coach Brian Lee said academics are an important part of the LSU soccer program even during a busy season.
“[Academics] are really important when you go through a long season,” Lee said. “You can lose sight that athletes are student-athletes and that student comes before the athlete. It’s certainly an accomplishment. We’re very proud of each and every one of the kids who made a contribution to it.”
The Tigers often find themselves making sudden in-game adjustments to give them an advantage on the pitch. These adjustments are things that the team can’t plan for, forcing them to be able to grasp tactical moves quickly.
Lee said his team’s intelligence off the pitch helps with its soccer IQ during games, allowing them to make the adjustments needed to win the game.
“The girls are very good at processing information at halftime,” Lee said. “We can tweak things and watch how they play out on the field.”
One player who found herself catapulted into the role of making a crucial in-game adjustment was junior forward Summer Clarke. The Canadian two-year starter made the SEC Honor Roll after her freshman and sophomore campaign. Clarke was asked to move from her striker position up top to the back line when the team took on then-No. 20 Duke University on Sept. 13th.
Lee said the coaching staff can rely on Clarke to make the necessary mental adjustments to play anywhere on the field.
“She’s just a really good soccer player and a very good athlete,” Lee said. “I feel like we can put her anywhere. If we have a problem to solve late in the game and we need her to go play left back, right back or center back she can go, and she’ll be fantastic.”
LSU will need to be at its peak physically and mentally as they finish the second half of the season against some talented SEC opponents,” Lee said.