After overcoming injury and fighting tooth and nail for the opportunity to play, LSU senior goalkeeper Catalina Rubiano proves her hard work is paying off.

Rubiano spearheaded a stingy LSU defense and helped guide the team to a 4-0-2 record headed into Southeastern Conference play. She is yet to concede more than one goal this season and has posted two clean sheets in victories over power conference opponents Indiana and

Minnesota.

Her solid play to start this season is years in the

making.

During her childhood, Rubiano realized she could grow into a solid athlete, however, that realization came while playing a different brand of football.

“Growing up, I was an athletic kid,” Rubiano said. “My dad knew I didn’t mind diving, getting dirty and hitting the ground. I would throw the football with my dad, and I thought I could throw it really far and catch it really well. That just translated to me playing [recreational] soccer as a kid and eventually playing in goal. I was the only [girl] who wasn’t afraid of playing in goal.”

Rubiano was a standout at Dominican High School in New Orleans, where she received All-State honors during her senior year while leading her team to a state championship. However, she was unable to play during her freshman year of college because of a lingering

meniscus injury.

After attending LSU in 2012, she joined the soccer program for the 2013 season. She played behind Megan Kinneman, a four-year starter and LSU’s all-time saves leader during her first year with the team.

Her return to the game she loves intensified the following summer when she was invited to train with the Colombian Women’s National Team in preparation for the South American Women’s Football Championship, or Copa America, a prestigious soccer tournament in the continent.

Although Rubiano never suited up for Colombia in a game, she said the experience will be one she cherishes forever.

“That was my pipe dream all along,” Rubiano said. “Watching the Women’s World Cup in 2011 was emotional for me. There’s so much passion and pride playing for a national team. I believe I had talent, but I didn’t know if there was a way to make it

happen.”

But there was.

LSU coach Brian Lee had a friend affiliated with the Colombian team and convinced him to invite Rubiano. She said she gained life-long relationships and cried when Colombia was eliminated in the 2015 World Cup.

However, she didn’t cry out of sadness. Even though Colombia failed to win a game in the tournament and was eliminated in the group stage, Rubiano shed tears of joy because of national pride.

“In the sport in that country, it’s tough for women,” Rubiano said. “But they showed the world that they’re taking it up to a whole new level. Even though I was never called up to play, just knowing I trained with them is always going to be a huge

accomplishment to me.”

Rubiano returned for her junior season last year but lost the starting goalkeeper battle to New Zealander Lily Alfeld. However, she kept training with the same intensity and finally earned her first start midway through the season in a game

against Alabama.

She has been the primary goalkeeper for LSU ever since, and Rubiano’s hard work and rise to a starting position hasn’t gone unnoticed by her teammates.

LSU has team meetings before practices where Tiger Eye decals are put on a board next to a player’s name. Once a player receives eight of them in one week, she heads to the front of the room to hear praise from her teammates, as well as ways she can build on her success.

This happened to Rubiano in practice on Tuesday night as LSU was preparing for its conference opener against Alabama.

“She’s doing fantastic,” LSU senior defender and team captain Alex Arlitt said. “I raised my hand [during the meeting] and I said, ‘Dude, you have come so far since you first came here a couple years ago. You have gotten so much fitter and so much more confident.’ Now she’s just an animal.”

Rubiano said after such a long journey, it is important to finish off her collegiate career with a successful season. As LSU opens conference play, she said she believes her team can accomplish something special this year.

“I think we have great chemistry,” Rubiano said. “I think we can safely say that we’ve prepared really well. I have the utmost confidence in my teammates. I think we can go as far as winning the SEC and, obviously, win in the national tournament, also. If that’s going to happen any year, it’s this one.”