After coming up short of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons, the LSU soccer team is in position to break the drought this year.
The Tigers (10-4-4, 4-4-2 Southeastern Conference) used a combination of veteran leadership and emerging young talent to become one of the most improved soccer teams the country and a postseason threat.
LSU has already doubled its win total from last year, and its 33 goals with one game remaining this season eclipses last year’s season total of 26.
Freshman forward Gabriela Maldonado and freshman defender Alex Thomas brought athletic ability and speed that the team lacked last season, and they adapted to coach Brian Lee’s system early in this season. Thomas, a former two-time Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year, started every game and Maldonado started all but two games thus far.
But it was LSU’s veterans who led the way for the team’s best season in four years, captained by senior defender Alex Arlitt.
“[Arlitt] is SEC Player of the Year material,” Lee said. “Our team just hasn’t had that success for her to be a big enough name over the last couple of years. I’m happy she can experience a season like this and play such a big role before she’s done playing at LSU.”
After suffering an ankle injury in her senior season last year, Arlitt received a medical redshirt and the ability to play as a fifth-year senior.
The Tigers improved drastically with a healthy Arlitt in the back line this year. With one game remaining, LSU’s opponents have scored 20 goals on the Tigers, compared to 36 last season.
Arlitt, the only player who has postseason experience with the Tigers, said she wanted to make the most of her extra year of eligibility.
“I’m grateful to have the opportunity to play another season,” Arlitt said “We just have to push and get to the NCAA [tournament]. It’s just fun to be a part of that tournament. I think it’s something we deserve, so we just have to put our heads down and keep grinding until we get there.”
Senior midfielder Natalia Gomez-Junco, the only other fifth-year player on the team, is as important for the Tigers’ attack as Arlitt is on defense.
Gomez-Junco had success during her first two years of NCAA soccer at the University of Memphis as a forward. But she has converted into a playmaker with the ball and a set piece specialist in her transition to a midfielder after transferring to LSU.
She has proven this at multiple points this season, but never more decisively than she did in LSU’s first SEC victory this season against Georgia on Sept. 17.
After the Tigers trailed 3-2 with less than 25 minutes left in regulation, Gomez-Junco scored twice to give the Tigers a big victory and extend their unbeaten season at home. She curled home a free kick from 25 yards then intercepted a Georgia clearance and put in the game winner 10 minutes later.
She leads the team and is tied for third in the SEC with seven assists.
“Having a player that works so hard and is so invested in the program and in the team in the middle of the field brings an energy to everybody on the team,” Lee said. “Her leadership has been outstanding.”
Arlitt and Gomez-Junco have been instrumental to the Tigers’ ascension back to national contention, and sophomore forward and leading goal scorer Jorian Baucom hopes to keep the Tigers there.
Baucom missed three games this year due to injury and another due to a suspension from an excess of yellow cards. She’s still managed 13 goals, five more than she scored last year and the second most in the SEC.
Alongside junior forward Summer Clarke, Baucom has helped make up one of the most potent scoring combinations in the country. The duo scored 18 goals in 15 games together this season, compared to 15 goals in 20 games last season.
Baucom topped the national scoring charts at various times during the 2015 season and has burst on to the scene for the Tigers.
“She’s been really consistent for us this year,” Arlitt said. “Even when she’s not scoring goals, she’s still a solid presence. I think she’ll only get better from here, and I can’t wait to watch and see what she does.”
The Tigers can lock up an SEC Tournament berth with a win or tie against the University of Kentucky on Thursday at 5:30 p.m., the last game of
the season.
LSU leads 11th-placed Vanderbilt University by two points in the SEC standings. The Tigers would still make the tournament with a loss as long as the unranked Commodores don’t the No. 13 University of Mississippi on Thursday.
If LSU wins the 10-team SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Alabama, it will automatically qualify for its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011. The Tigers can also qualify via an at-large bid if they don’t win the SEC Championship.
The Tigers’ at-large bid résumé includes wins against several ranked teams in the NCAA Women’s Soccer RPI, defeating No 25. University of Minnesota and then-No. 15 Duke University. The Tigers also posted an undefeated record at home for the first time since 2007 with an 8-0-4 record.