Coming into the weekend, the LSU soccer team had a 1-22-2 record against national top-25 opponents in the 13 years of the program’s existence. This weekend, the Tigers (8-1-4, 2-0-2) improved that record with a 3-0 win against No. 6 Tennessee (7-2-1, 2-1-0) on Friday and a 1-1 tie Sunday against No. 21 Georgia (10-1-1, 3-0-1) in the LSU Soccer Complex. The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the second half on a header goal by junior Megan Tomlinson, assisted by freshman Kelli Corless in the 56th minute of the match. LSU sophomore Michelle Makasini scored the equalizer for LSU three minutes later to finish the scoring in the match. Both teams had several chances throughout the game to take the lead, but LSU senior goalie Valerie Vogler and Georgia sophomore goalie Michelle Betos were able to thwart the scoring threats, causing the game to go into overtime. In overtime, tensions flared when Georgia freshman Mariah Krase was given a yellow card for a slide tackle on sophomore Malorie Rutledge. Rutledge was dribbling toward the Georgia goal with the Tigers holding numbers down the field when Krase tackled the Euless, Texas, native from behind to prevent LSU from a scoring opportunity. Rutledge was carted off the field by the LSU medical team. LSU soccer coach Brian Lee said he did not have a diagnosis yet, but he said he thinks the Tigers have been victims of malicious play from their opponents. “We don’t have an injury bug,” Lee said. “It’s tackles from behind that are dirty. We’re dependent on people who are not involved with either team to get a hold of the game, and now in three of four SEC games, we have seen 12 yellows [committed] against us. And of the 12, nine have been tackles from behind, and kids are going to get hurt when that happens.” For the game, the Tigers outshot the Bulldogs 23-7, but only six of the LSU shots were recorded on goal. On Friday, the Tigers upset No. 6 Tennessee 3-0 in front of a record crowd of 2,402 at the LSU Soccer Complex. Both teams played a fast-paced style in the first half, going back and forth trading shots. Makasini put the Tigers on the board in the 21st minute with a free-kick goal from 30 yards out. The Volunteers had several scoring chances throughout the contest, but Vogler made three saves to record her SEC-leading sixth shutout of the season. Freshman Taryne Boudreau gave LSU a 2-0 advantage in the 72nd minute and Makasini scored her second goal of the match in the 82nd minute to finish the LSU scoring. The win marked the first time LSU defeated a Top-10 opponent in the program’s history and only the second time the Tigers have defeated a nationally-ranked opponent. “It feels great to get a win like that,” Makasini said. “We’ve worked so hard as a team to get ready for the SEC, and I think we showed that with our performance tonight.” Lee said he was proud of the way his team performed in front of a record crowd Friday night. “It was just an unbelievable effort by our club tonight,” Lee said. “This was as complete a performance as I’ve seen in the three years that I’ve been here.” Lee said the weekend was one of the best he has had in his tenure at LSU. “We feel good about our roster, we feel good about our players and hopefully [Rutledge] will be all right. We will get the diagnosis sometime in the next day, and then we will go from there.”
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