The historic streak for IU is finished.
The Hoosier defense had held its opponents to 463 minutes without a goal, a mark that ranks second in the history of IU women’s soccer.
After IU tallied its third consecutive win Friday with a 2-0 victory against Middle Tennessee State, the potent offense of undefeated LSU was too much to handle Sunday.
The Tigers used three first-half goals to put away the Hoosiers, 4-0, as part of the Stomp in the Swamp tournament.
LSU’s leading scorer, sophomore forward Jorian Baucom, slotted in a pair of goals to increase her season tally to six. Junior forward Summer Clarke scored twice in the first nine minutes of play to force the Hoosiers to play from behind.
“They came out on fire,” IU coach Amy Berbary said of LSU. “We made a couple of mistakes within 25 yards of our goal and were caught ball-watching instead of accounting for players. Clarke and Baucom are very dynamic and attacking players. If you give them a chance, they’re going to bury it. We lost track of them, and for the rest of the game, we had to chase the game.”
Freshman forward Abby Allen provided IU’s best chance for a score, forcing a goal-line save from the Tigers early in the second half. Allen accounted for half of the Hoosiers’ shots on goal in Sunday’s losing effort.
“I thought Abby did well,” Berbary said. “Her first touch was getting away from her. She had a great run in the second half that caused a goal-line save that might have given us the spark we needed to start the second half. She continues to do things for us.”
Similar to the season opener against No. 13 Virginia Tech, the Hoosiers seemed to settle in after allowing a pair of early goals and created a few chances against the LSU defense. A handball inside the 18-yard box, resulting in a Baucom penalty kick goal, allowed the Tigers to stifle any Hoosier attack.
“I think we had our moments,” Berbary said. “We either start out fast and have a lull in the middle of the game, or we start slow and then pick it up. We have to figure out a way to be more consistent throughout the game.”
The Hoosiers, at 3-2-1, will play one more on the road before returning to Bloomington. IU has played its last four games away from the familiar confines of Armstrong Stadium.
Berbary’s team will be faced with another challenging opponent as No. 6 Notre Dame will play host to the Hoosiers on Friday night.
“I like putting our team in difficult situations,” Berbary said. “I think that’s going to help us grow as a team and grow for the future of this program. We’re going to continuously be playing a high-level opponent once we get to conference play. This is good for us.”
