LSU senior defender Courtney Alexander lined up 12 yards away, struck the ball and watched it brush the crossbar and skip harmlessly over the target.
Her misfire in the penalty kick shootout provided the difference Friday as the LSU soccer team fell to South Carolina in penalty kicks, 4-3, after drawing 1-1 in regulation.
For LSU (8-8-5, 4-4-3), the scene was nearly identical to its 2009 penalty kick loss against Texas A&M when senior forward Melissa Clarke’s effort struck the crossbar to end the Tigers’ season in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
LSU has now dropped four consecutive shootouts, three of which have served as season-ending losses.
“Obviously, I think there’s some skill to it, but it’s also a bit of a crapshoot,” said LSU coach Brian Lee. “When they hit the bar, it went down and in, and when Courtney Alexander hit the ball, it kept rolling upward.”
The gameplay was a mirror image of last season’s Southeastern Conference tournament final, in which LSU led for much of the match before ceding a late goal to the Gamecocks.
South Carolina (14-4-4, 8-2-1) opened the scoring on Friday with a 29th-minute goal from junior forward Kayla Grimsley. The Gamecocks controlled most of the game from that point forward, ultimately outshooting LSU 22-8. Tigers sophomore forward Carlie Banks slotted home a pass from freshman forward Addie Eggleston with just 12 minutes remaining to send the match into overtime.
“Addie had a great finish to the season,” Lee said. “She probably made Carlie’s goal basically on her own. Obviously, we needed a goal at that point, and it was really a big-time play.”
LSU benefited greatly from freshman goalkeeper Megan Kinneman’s play. Kinneman made a season-high 10 saves to keep LSU in the match. She also broke junior goalkeeper Mo Isom’s single-season record for goals per game average.
“Megan was brilliant — again. She’s got moxie. … She is going to have an outstanding career,” Lee said.
However, the Tigers were unable to capitalize on their new life and in overtime had to settle for penalty kicks, despite their track record in shootouts.
LSU failed to lean on its forwards to take the penalty kicks. Just as two-time SEC Offensive Player of the Year Malorie Rutledge chose not to take a penalty kick against South Carolina in 2009, Eggleston and Banks were not in the penalty kick lineup Friday. Instead, Isom and Kinneman buried two of the Tigers’ three shootout goals.
“Neither of [the forwards] are that confident taking [penalty kicks], and we just start with the kids who want to take them,” Lee said.
 
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Contact Ryan Ginn at [email protected]