Sophomore midfielder Jasmine Martinez and the Cougars have struggled to score this season with an overhauled roster that lost last year’s top goal scorer Lauri Byrne. | Catherine Lara/The Daily Cougar
The losing continues for the Cougars, who fell to LSU 2-1 on their home pitch Tuesday.
Head coach Susan Bush said she was impressed by the manner in which her team finished the game, but could not ignore the fact that they are still looking for their first win of the season.
“Another loss is hard to swallow,” Bush said. “This is probably our hardest schedule in the program’s history, and it’s tough to build confidence loss after loss.”
The Cougars (0-5-0) squandered their best scoring chance of the first half when junior forward Katelyn Rhodes collected a through pass behind the LSU back four and fired a low shot that was deflected away by LSU senior goalkeeper Mo Isom.
LSU (2-3) drew first blood 30 seconds later at the 10-minute mark of the first half when senior midfielder Taryne Boudreau received a cross from senior forward Allysha Chapman in close on the right post and made no mistake, slotting the ball past a diving Cami Koski for her first goal of the season.
“We need to be sharper in the final third,” Bush said.
“We had a great early opportunity and had we put that away, the whole dynamic of the game would have changed. Whereas LSU put away their first chance.”
The Tigers applied pressure for the remainder of the first half, but the Cougars defense held strong. Although penned back in their defending third for the majority of the first half, the Cougars kept the LSU offense to outside shots.
“Early on they had a lot of time to sit on the ball and we didn’t have a sense of urgency,” Cami Koski said. “I thought we picked it up as the half went on but we need to be more diligent.”
Junior forward Carlie Banks made it 2-0 for the Tigers in the 73rd minute on an easy tap in on the right post after a pass across the box from senior midfielder Natalie Martineau.
Senior forward Jessica Zavalza brought the Cougars back to within one when she notched her second goal of the season in the 89th minute.
Zavalza collected a rebound off the crossbar and fired the ball past Isom to give the Cougars a chance in the dwindling moments of the game.
The Cougar offense applied pressure in a frantic final minute, but it was too little too late as they were unable to find the equalizer.
“We play well for five minutes and then we lose it for five and then pick it back up again. We can’t have that,” Zavalza said.
The Cougars will next face Texas Southern at 7 p.m. on Friday at Robertson.
