LSU soccer shut out its Baton Rouge neighbor Southern University 5-0, showing the true talent of its offense with five goals from five different players.
The Tigers are now 3-0 since losing the season opener against South Florida and 3-1 overall. They came off a huge road win, beating No. 9 Texas 3-1, and it was clear they went into this game with the same aggressive play against the Jaguars.
“Overall, it’s been great to see the response since the loss against South Florida and three back-to-back wins,” LSU head coach Sian Hudson said.
It was a slow beginning for the Tigers with only one early goal scored by forward Rammie Noel on an assist from midfielder Ava Galligan. It was Noel’s first goal of the season and Galligan’s third assist this season.
While LSU applied offensive pressure and made many opportunistic plays in pursuit of the box, seven offsides in the first half made it difficult for the Tigers to find the net.
“In all fairness to them, they came out and impressed us really well in the first half and played a high line,” Hudson said. “We didn’t anticipate that. I think it caused us some problems probably offsides six or seven times in key moments.”
However, Southern’s pressure on defense didn’t stop the Tigers from finding shot opportunities. LSU kept Jaguar goalkeeper Sydney Bellamy busy with a season high for the Tigers with 25 shots in total and 13 shots on goal.
When the Tigers took the pitch in the second half, it was only a matter of time before they extended their 1-0 lead.
Within two minutes, forward Britney Bertram scored for the first time this season off midfielder Raelyn Prince’s set piece. Twenty seconds after that, forward Sage Glover scored her first goal this season from midfielder Jordan Johnson’s assist.
Within the next five minutes, Johnson scored off a long shot to put the Tigers up 4-0, grabbing her first goal of the 2023 season.
Within seven minutes, the Tigers took over the second half.
During the last remaining minutes of gametime, midfielder Ida Hermannsdottir assisted forward Mollie Baker’s goal to give LSU a commanding 5-0 lead.
While LSU was explosive on offense, goalkeepers Mollee Swift and Bella Zanotelli claim the shut-out. Swift recorded three saves against the Jaguars’ three shots on goal.
The LSU defense held the Jaguars to five shots the whole game with no shots on goal in the second half.
“Overall, (we had) five different goal scorers tonight and we kept a clean sheet,” Hudson said. “That’s really important to us. We talked about the importance of keeping a clean sheet tonight, so it was great to see Swift and Bella split that.”
LSU will go to Madison, Wisconsin, this Thursday to face the Wisconsin Badgers and aim to continue this hot streak.
