After a year of rehabilitation, LSU sophomore soccer player Melissa Clarke proved to be better than ever this past weekend.
Clarke tore her lateral collateral ligament in her right knee Sept. 10, causing her to miss the majority of her second season at LSU.
In her first performance since the injury, she won Offensive MVP during this weekend’s LSU Tiger Classic. The Tigers enjoyed success winning 2-0 on Sunday against Louisiana Tech and starting the weekend with a 3-0 win against Southern Mississippi on Friday.
“[Getting off to a good start] is really important for me,” Clarke said. “It gives me a positive outlook, and I can only go up from here, so I am really happy about that.”
Prior to her injury this past season Clarke was LSU’s leading score, connecting on two goals and three assists in six games.
The Tigers defeated Louisiana Tech in dominating fashion, outshooting the Lady Techsters 16-4.
Clarke started LSU’s scoring in the seventh minute, bending a shot from a near impossible angle in the far left corner of the Louisiana Tech penalty area, shocking Clarke and also most of the 935 in attendance.
“I thought when [the shot] hit the post it was going to bounce out,” Clarke said. “But luckily it angled in and went through.”
Junior Roslyn Jones scored the Tigers’ second goal in the 17th minute, rebounding a miss by freshman Taryne Boudreau to give the Tigers their final goal.
Senior goalkeeper Valerie Vogler recorded her second straight shutout to start the season.
Vogler has not allowed a goal for LSU in over 300 minutes inside the net dating back to this past season.
The St. Louis native is the Tigers’ starter after splitting time with junior Jackie Moseley this past season.
“[Vogler] has been solid, but she has not really been tested [this season],” said LSU coach Brian Lee. “We’ve got a run of play this week against Memphis and Miami who will put a little more pressure on us, but she will be up to the task.”
Although the Lady Techsters fell behind by two goals early in the match, Louisiana Tech limited LSU’s scoring chances in the second half.
“LSU is bigger, faster and stronger,” said Louisiana Tech coach Kevin Sherry. “It will take at least eight weeks of conditioning to get to that level. We are making strides with every game, but I hope everyone realizes that it will take a while to get to where we need to be.”
Lee said he is pleased with the way his team played throughout the weekend, and he looks forward to seeing his team’s conditioning improve throughout the season.
“Sundays are a little tougher physically because it’s the second game in three days,” Lee said. “Fatigue sets in a little, and it is hard to get in game shape without playing games, so we just need to move forward to next weekend and hopefully we will be a little fresher on the back-end of that one.”
LSU opened their season against Southern Mississippi in front of a record crowd of 1,828 at the LSU Soccer Complex.
Sophomore Malorie Rutledge scored the first goal of the season for the Tigers in the 14th minute of that game, beating the Eagles goalkeeper from 10 yards out to give LSU the early lead.
Ten minutes later in the match, Clarke recorded her first goal in over a calendar year when she scored from the Eagles’ six-yard box following a through-ball from sophomore Michelle Makasini.
Makasini recorded her second point of the match in the second half when she connected from the top of Southern Mississippi’s penalty box to give the Tigers their final goal of the match.
“This was a great starting point for our club,” Lee said in a news release. “The midfield was outstanding moving the ball forward, and we were really creative in the attacking third.”
—-Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]