Rachel Yepez continued her scoring ways from the 2007 season in the 2008 season opener for LSU on Friday night.
The junior forward scored the only goals of the game as the Tigers downed South Alabama, 2-0.
Yepez scored her first two goals of the season in the 25th and 61st minutes of the game.
On the first goal, the junior received assists from junior midfielder Malorie Rutledge and senior forward Roslyn Jones and fired a shot from nearly 18 yards out.
The second goal was one LSU coach Brian Lee called a “weight-room goal” in which Yepez held off a defender inside the penalty box and scored an unassisted goal.
“Yepez is awesome,” Lee said. “Good things happen to good kids who work really hard. She kills herself in the weight room for nine months and works hard training.”
Yepez finished the 2007 season as LSU’s leading scorer with 14 goals on the season.
“The first half was a little rough,” Yepez said. “It was a little too much dribbling, but we settled down and got our heads up and moved the ball around a lot faster. It was OK, and we improved a little more.”
Lee was not all positive after the win, as he noted the Tigers still had work to do on the defensive end of the field.
“I thought the back four was a little dodgy, and [freshman goalkeeper] Mo [Isom] bailed us out a couple of times,” Lee said. “We can play a lot better. It’s the first game of the year, and we have room to improve.”
Isom saved two shots on the evening including one in the first half that she barely got a hand on to send sailing over the crossbar.
“[Mo] did great,” said senior midfielder Casey Crawford. “She needs to get a bit more confidence. But she is a freshman, and she is working on that.”
—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]