Following the departure of its most successful senior class in history, the LSU soccer team signed one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.
 
The group LSU coach Brian Lee referred to as the most impressive freshman class in school history arrived on campus without the luxury of getting adjusted.
 
Before the season, Lee said he would only redshirt freshman goalkeeper Megan Kinneman. It was a logical move, given that junior goalkeeper Mo Isom played all but 23 of the 4,124 minutes that comprised her first two seasons.
 
As promised, nine of the 10 newcomers saw action in LSU’s season-opening win against South Alabama.
 
Three weeks later, with five games played and just one win to show for it, the 10th and final freshman earned a start between the posts.
 
Kinneman didn’t disappoint, earning a shutout in her collegiate debut and helping LSU avert serious disaster in a sluggish 1-0 win against lowly Louisiana-Lafayette.
 
Isom and Kinneman alternated matches in each of the next two weekends until Isom lost her job for the season after accidentally punching a corner kick into her own net in a 1-0 loss against Georgia.
 
Replacing the school record holder in wins, shutouts and goals against average with a true freshman was unprecedented — but so were the results that followed. Kinneman set a school record in allowing only 0.66 goals per game while earning six shutouts in 14 games.
 
Speaking after LSU’s second-round loss in the Southeastern Conference tournament, Lee expressed bright hope for the future.
“Megan was brilliant — again,” he said. “She is going to have an outstanding career.”
 
It was a stunning contrast from the preseason press conference in which he expressed hope that Isom would blossom into an All-American that could lead LSU to its first-ever Final Four.
 
Instead, for the first time in four years, the Tigers failed to win the SEC West and didn’t qualify for the NCAA tournament.
 
The Tigers lost three players who ranked in the career top 10 of every major offensive category, including two-time SEC Offensive Player of the Year Malorie Rutledge.
 
After beginning the season with an eight-goal romp against South Alabama, LSU scored just 17 goals in its last 20 games. Their 25-goal output was less than half of last season’s total and the third-fewest goals scored in school history.
 
The offense was dealt an early blow when freshman forward Kaley Blades suffered a season-ending injury after scoring two goals in the first four games. Without a veteran presence up front for most of the season, LSU was on the wrong end of six 1-0 games and set a school record for scoreless draws.
 
LSU’s defense was ultimately unable to overcome the offensive woes, as their season ended with a penalty kick loss for the third consecutive season.
 
“It’s always disappointing when your season ends in a shootout,” Lee said. “We now have nine months to really push ourselves and work hard in offseason conditioning to make sure our team doesn’t have this feeling again.”
 
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Contact Ryan Ginn at
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