BATON ROUGE – The 15th-ranked LSU soccer team scored early and often led by a pair of first-half goals by freshman standout Carlie Banks en route to a comfortable 4-0 victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon at the LSU Soccer Complex.
With the win, the Tigers (10-3-3, 6-1-1 SEC) remain tied atop the league standings with 19 points as they are in a deadlock with South Carolina. Defending champion Florida follows closely in the title race with 17 points, while Georgia is within striking distance with 15 points.
LSU also extends its unbeaten streak to eight games against Mississippi State (8-6-2, 0-6-2) while the club has also won five-straight matches against its SEC Western Division rival.
Despite playing its fourth-straight game without senior forward Rachel Yepez in the lineup, LSU came out firing on all cylinders against the Bulldogs as Banks gave the Tigers an early 1-0 advantage with her fifth goal of the season in the 11th minute of play. Malorie Rutledge centered a pass into the left side of the box that was finished beautifully by a sliding Banks for the goal.
Rutledge then dished out her seventh assist of the season less than a minute later when she played a perfect through ball to sophomore Taryne Boudreau running free in the left side of the area. She then beat the Mississippi State goalkeeper one-on-one with a rocket shot into the back of the net.
Banks then gave LSU a comfortable three-goal lead in the 22nd minute of the first half with a goal on a wide-open shot from the middle of the penalty area. It was her sixth goal of the season.
LSU’s constant pressure paid off once more in the first half as junior Courtney Alexander picked off an errant back pass by a Mississippi State defender and fired a strike into the net from 10 yards out for her first goal of the season at the 43:10 mark. For Alexander, her strike also marked the first goal of her LSU career as she has played most of the season as a starting left back.
“It was really good to get the early goal,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “That really settled us in and to get two that early was really great. The team is doing more things to give us a variety of attacking options as we get closer to the end of the season.”
LSU dominated possession throughout the match as the Tigers outshot the Bulldogs by a count of 24-8 in total shots and 12-3 in shots on goal. LSU also attempted 11 corner kicks on the afternoon to just one corner kick for Mississippi State.
A stifling LSU defense would not give an inch as it limited the Bulldogs in their opportunities on goal to earn yet another clean sheet this season.
And it proved to be a historic shutout for LSU’s sophomore goalkeeper Mo Isom as she needed to save just two Mississippi State shots to earn her ninth shutout of the season and her 16th clean sheet of her brief collegiate career. With the result, Isom breaks the LSU all-time career record of 15 shutouts previously held by former Tigers Valerie Vogler and Bonnie Otillio.
“The back four is doing an unbelievable job of limited chances for the opposing team to score,” Lee said. “Mo Isom has been great on crosses, and her kicking game really opens up the field for us each game. She is having a good season, and she just keeps getting better back there for us.”
The Tigers enter the home stretch with just three games remaining in the regular season, and they will travel to Gainesville, Fla., on Thursday to battle the 11th-ranked Florida Gators in a match set for a 6 p.m. CT kickoff. LSU will then return home on Oct. 25 to take on South Carolina at 2 p.m. as the match is set for a live television broadcast on ESPNU.
