Senior midfielder Melissa Clarke has battled injuries and odds to become the current leading goal scorer for the LSU soccer team this season.The Norcross, Ga., native ended her junior season with six goals. But through six games this season, she has already accumulated five. 
“It just keeps getting better and better,” Clarke said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”Clarke’s most recent attacking prowess was a two-goal game against Oklahoma on Friday. But perhaps more noteworthy was when she passed up on a hat trick opportunity at the end of the game to provide an assist to freshman midfielder Natalie Ieyoub.”It was just me and two other players and Ieyoub,” Clarke said. “The defender committed, so she was wide open. No matter who it is, I can count on them to put it away.”Clarke’s recent hot streak hasn’t gone unnoticed by teammates.”She’s more focused, more determined — not that she wasn’t before, but I think she’s stepped it up a lot,” said sophomore midfielder Taryne Boudreau. “You can see the leadership in her and her experience.”This season is Clarke’s final chance to prove herself at the college level, and she’s feeling better than ever after tearing her lateral collateral ligament in her right knee her sophomore season.Clarke said even though she was cleared to play last season, only now is she finally returning to 100 percent following the injury.”It took me a good year and a half to fully come back,” Clarke said. “I was hitting the weight room pretty hard and trying to get back as soon as possible. This is my last year. Go big or go home.”Clarke is certainly “going big” this season. Her five goals are a team best ahead of senior midfielder Malorie Rutledge, who has three goals on the season.The Oklahoma game wasn’t Clarke’s only two-goal performance of the year. With her team trailing by a goal against South Florida, she buried two goals in the final 20 minutes to give LSU the 2-1 victory.
“Just watching her and seeing how she plays is helping me to see what I need to do better,” said freshman midfielder Carlie Banks. “She’s really smart. She sees the field, and that’s something I want to improve in my game.”LSU coach Brian Lee said he is excited to see Clarke’s potential in what appears to be her breakout year.”Melissa’s battled injuries off and on during her time here, and she’s finally healthy,” he said. “She’s as fit as she’s ever been and has worked really hard over the last offseason to get ready for the season. She’s just a good player who’s off to a good start.”Melissa Clarke’s mother, Bredget Clarke, said despite her daugher’s fast start, LSU fans still haven’t seen the best she has to offer.”Before she was injured, before her knees started bugging her in high school, she was the best player ever,” she said. “Not because she was my daughter — she had such natural talent. Now she’s starting to display a little bit of it again, but you have not yet seen her talent.”Melissa Clarke was immediately enveloped in soccer as her father, Rudy Clarke, was a former professional soccer player for Leeds United and the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League. Bredget Clarke said Melissa Clarke started playing soccer at 4 years old and never looked back.”With him always playing soccer, they were kind of born on the soccer field,” Bredget Clarke said.Rudy Clarke said he coached his daughter for several years.”I coached her until she was about 14. We had quite a soccer team,” he said. “We were state champs and played at the national level. She’s got quite an experience with me. She knows how to play technically correct because she was taught that way.”Rudy Clarke said teaching kids has been joyous for him and helped influence his daughter who, at a young age, would go and kick the ball around when he went to teach and coach.”I wanted to pass my skills on to kids,” he said. “I started working with kids in the area. I started coaching in the associations here in Georgia. I think that was the influence.”————Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]