The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
LSU
Soccer falls in exhibition match at LSU, 2-1
08.14.2009 | Soccer
Aug. 14, 2009
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The University of Texas Soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to Louisiana State in an exhibition match Friday night at the LSU Soccer Complex.
The Tigers came out firing and found the back of the net eight minutes into the match. LSU freshman Carlie Banks connected on a deflected shot by Malorie Rutledge to give the Tigers the 1-0 advantage. Despite being down, the Longhorns controlled the ball for the majority of the first half and fired four shots.
Freshman Leah Fortune netted the equalizer in the 71st minute in her first match as a Longhorn. The newcomer volleyed the ball over the head of LSU keeper Mo Isom from about 16 yards out for the goal. Junior Kirsten Birkhold was credited with the assist.
LSU bounced back quickly when Courtney Alexander headed in a Nikki Bush pass from 12 yards out for the gamewinner with just five minutes remaining. Texas was unable to create anything in the final minutes, giving LSU the 2-1 victory.
Texas outshot the Tigers 11-10, including a 7-4 advantage in the second half. Fortune led all UT players with six shots. The Longhorns played a young starting lineup which included four true freshmen, four sophomores, two juniors and one senior.
Texas opens the regular season against TCU, Friday, Aug. 21 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin. First whistle is slated for 7 p.m. Central.
POST MATCH QUOTES
Head Coach Chris Petrucelli
On the first half: Well we started the game slowly. I think we were a little nervous. We have all these new players and they were a little nervous and I think that showed in the first fifteen to twenty minutes. But I think after that we settled down and started playing well toward the end of the first half and pretty well in the second half. Overall, I feel pretty good about how we did.
On freshmen Leah Fortune and Sophie Campise: Campise was aggressive from the first whistle. She was playing up against a good player in LSU forward Malorie Rutledge and that's a good challenge for her since she's really never played in the back before. Leah was really good too. She's good around the goal and there's a reason why she gets called up to play with the Brazilian National Team. She can play.
On Fortune's goal: Well I thought it was a real quality goal. The ball got around to Kirsten [Birkhold] who put a nice little chip on it over to Fortune and you know Fortune doesn't miss when she gets in or around the goal, she's really good and she just lobbed the ball in over the goalkeeper. It was kind of a fancy finish.
