Members of the LSU soccer team lingered nervously at midfield Sunday, waiting for the news that would set off a celebration of their fourth-straight Southeastern Conference Western Division championship.
LSU (7-8-4, 4-4-3) needed an Alabama win against Auburn to claim the title outright in the wake of its 1-0 win against Arkansas (5-11-3, 2-7-2).
The Crimson Tide played their part well for 89 minutes, going up 1-0 early and hanging on for what seemed like an eternity. But just minutes after LSU’s match concluded, the news came down from the press box: Auburn scored with 17 seconds left, sending the game into overtime.
Auburn went on to win, and with the victory came its first outright SEC West championship since 2006.
The LSU Tigers, who struggled to finish scoring opportunities all season, finally discovered a finishing touch against the Razorbacks only to see their work erased by another team’s inability to close out a match.
Instead of finishing fifth overall, the Tigers dropped to sixth and will face third-seeded Tennessee in the first round Wednesday.
The consolation, of course, is that LSU may be playing its best soccer of the season. Despite both teams fighting for a place in the conference tournament, the first half had all the makings of another scoreless draw — an LSU specialty of late.
“At halftime, I asked them, ‘Are we going to be a fifth-place team or a 10th-place team?’ That’s a pretty big difference in the way you’re spending the next nine months,” said LSU coach Brian Lee.
Junior midfielder Kellie Murphy provided the answer to Lee’s question in the 67th minute when her header off a corner kick found the back of the net, giving the Tigers the goal they so desperately needed.
“Losing or tying was not an option,” Murphy said. “We had one senior [defender Courtney Alexander], and we really had to do it for her because this would have been it if we had lost.”
Alexander, the lone senior sandwiched between an eight-member senior class of 2009 and six-member junior class, played the part of leader to perfection. She served as the catalyst for a tentative offense, consistently applying pressure and leading the team in shots with four.
“I’m just glad that we pulled it out so it wasn’t my last game here for LSU,” she said. “It ended up exactly how we needed to do.”
While the bitter disappointment of the Auburn win still resonated in the locker room a half-hour later, perhaps a second news bulletin brought forth the gratefulness to even have another game.
Ole Miss, tied with LSU in the standings, lost to Mississippi State, who had been 0-10 in conference matches until Friday. Instead of potentially winning the division, the Rebels finished ninth overall, failing to make the tournament.
 
 
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Contact Ryan Ginn at [email protected]