The weight of penalty kicks proved again to be too much for an LSU soccer team which fought its way to its second shootout in seven days.The No. 11 Tigers (15-4-5) missed penalty kicks from their two most prolific scorers — senior midfielders Malorie Rutledge and Melissa Clarke — in a 4-2 loss decided by penalty kicks to No. 23 Texas A&M (15-6-3).The loss was LSU’s second shootout loss in three games after the two teams fought to a 1-1 draw Sunday.”We had plenty of chances, but so did they,” said LSU coach Brian Lee. “It was a 1-1 game that really could have been 3-3 with some better finishing.”Rutledge, who did not partake in last weekend’s 8-7 shootout loss to No. 8 South Carolina, missed early when her kick was saved by Texas A&M junior goalkeeper Kelly Dyer on a dive to the left.”[Lee] told me, ‘Hit or miss, I want you to take it,'” said a teary-eyed Rutledge. “[Dyer] just had a lucky guess … It’s disheartening … but it just happens.”The Aggies converted all four of their kicks and would not need a fifth to advance to the Sweet 16, where they will play No. 5 Florida State next weekend.Clarke, who had converted from the penalty spot in the game’s 68th minute to tie the score, stepped up needing to convert on her fourth penalty kick of the week to extend the shootout.She hit the crossbar, causing an Aggie dog pile in the penalty area as the Tigers’ season ended.”Penalty kicks are just a toss-up,” Lee said. “You can’t play forever, so you’ve got to decide somehow … What’s meant to be is meant to be, and we’ll move on.”The heartbreaking shootout capped off what had been an intense second half and overtime period. The teams combined for 28 shots while battling up and down the field in unseasonal 80-degree heat.Texas A&M grabbed the advantage in the 66th minute when LSU goalkeeper Mo Isom lost track of a high corner kick, allowing Texas A&M senior defender Emily Peterson to head in the first goal.”When it comes down to it we’ve struggled defending corners, and we don’t take penalties very well,” Lee said.The Tigers responded just     moments later, when Rutledge was taken down in the penalty box, earning a penalty kick that Clarke subsequently buried.LSU sophomore midfielder Allysha Chapman made plays on every inch of the field, as she helped the LSU back line shut down the Aggies, while also moving up in an attacking role.”I’m not the best at going forward, so I just kind of do what the game gives me, basically,” Chapman said.Clarke had perhaps the most heartbreaking misses of the entire afternoon. She beat Dyer from distance in the game’s early going only to see her shot clang off the left goal post.It was one of a laundry list of misses for a senior class that came inches short of Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament titles, as well as the school’s first Sweet 16 appearance.”We’re very happy for our senior class — that they were able to come here and change the program and get us to this point,” Lee said.—-Contact David Helman at [email protected]