LSU may have topped an Atlantic Coast Conference team in football, but the ACC got the best of the Tigers in soccer this weekend.
The No. 23 LSU soccer team fell to Virginia Tech, 1-0, on Sunday, two days after losing to No. 16 Wake Forest, 3-1, in Winston Salem, N.C.
The Hokies (3-3) and the Tigers (1-3) were scoreless after the first half. It took until the 67th minute for Virginia Tech freshman forward Katie DeTuro to notch the first goal of the game.
It was all the Hokies needed to pull out the 1-0 win. The Tigers managed only one shot on goal and three shots total.
“Virginia Tech’s just a little more physical and a little more direct, and they were able to limit us with chances,” said LSU coach Brian Lee. “Our forwards just couldn’t hold the ball against their pressure.”
Virginia Tech’s win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Hokies, while the Tigers are now in a three-game losing streak of their own.
“We’ve got to upgrade our competitiveness with the young players,” Lee said. “They’re still a little shell-shocked with the physicality of college soccer.”
Lee said he is still tweaking the lineup to get the best 11 on the field. Players who normally played one position last year may need to find a new niche this season.
He said he also needs to prepare his younger players for the mental and physical grind of college soccer.
“Sunday was the first time we had to turn around in two days and play again, and we didn’t deal with that so well,” Lee said.
The Tigers suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of freshman forward Rachel Nuzzolese and No. 16 Wake Forest on Friday night.
The Demon Deacons (4-1) got on the board first with a goal from sophomore defender Caralee Keppler off Nuzzolese’s corner kick in the 36th minute.
Wake held a 1-0 lead into halftime, but LSU tied the game, 1-1, with a goal by freshman forward Kaley Blades in the 73rd minute.
It only took Wake Forest two more minutes to notch the game-winning score as freshman forward Katie Stengel buried a goal on a through ball from Nuzzolese.
Nuzzolese then put the game away, 3-1, with a goal of her own in the 90th minute. She is the first Demon Deacon in school history to score a goal in the first four games of her career.
“We made a pretty glowing error that created a goal that maybe comes from a little bit of youth and then had our chances to tie the game and just gave away the last goal when we pushed everybody forward,” Lee said.
Three different Tigers were issued yellow cards against Wake Forest, and LSU also received a team yellow card.
“Friday night it was maybe just some odd officiating decisions to give out the yellow cards,” Lee said. “Their first goal came off what our team thought was a hand ball in the box, so that created some frustration.”
Despite the losses, Lee said he was pleased with how the Tigers fought back and knows it’s still a learning process for an inexperienced team.
“I thought the Wake game was a huge step forward,” Lee said. “I thought we played really well against top-notch competition.”
 
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]