BATON ROUGE – After a Mississippi State defender was whistled for a handball 30 yards in front of goal, LSU’s free kick specialist Natalia Gomez-Junco pinged a curling effort off the right post and into the back of the net in the 10^th minute of play to give the home side a 1-0 lead it would not relinquish in Friday’s victory at the LSU Soccer Stadium.

Gomez-Junco’s third goal of the season proved to be the game-winner in SEC play as the Tigers (10-4-3, 4-4-1 SEC) picked up a crucial three points in their bid for SEC and NCAA Tournament qualification.

The Tigers also extended their winning streak to 11 games and unbeaten streak to 14 games against the Bulldogs (4-9-3, 2-5-2) while moving up three spots into seventh place in the league table with 13 points and just two regular-season matches to play. They have not tasted defeat in their series with Mississippi State since 2001 while posting a 13-0-1 mark during that span.

The victory also extended LSU’s home unbeaten streak to 11-straight games this season with the Tigers now owning an impressive 8-0-3 mark on their home field during the 2015 season.

“I practice free kicks like that every day after practice because I know it will make a difference at some point,” Gomez-Junco said of her winning free kick on Friday night. “It was in a spot that is kind of my specialty, so I just did what I practiced. It ended up being the game-winner, but we had other great chances throughout the match. The team kept pushing for that second goal to the end.”

Gomez-Junco netted her second game-winning goal in SEC play this season as she also scored two goals in the second half to lead the Tigers to a 4-3 comeback win over Georgia on Sept. 17 for their first league win this campaign. Her game-tying free kick in the 69^th minute against Georgia even featured at No. 8 in the “Top Plays” segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter later that night.

Gomez-Junco’s winning goal on Friday night was another for the highlight reel as the Tigers were able to score their second-straight 1-0 win in SEC play after picking up the points at Arkansas on Oct. 15 of last week.

“It’s just very natural, like an instinct I have now because I put so much work into those free kicks,” Gomez-Junco continued. “I have that confidence that I can make the same kind of contact that I do in practice, so it is just getting the right confidence and the right attitude towards it to know I can step up and do it in the game.”

Sophomore striker Jorian Baucom nearly doubled the home side’s advantage minutes later when she turned and fired inches wide of the left post from the top of the box after playing a nice one-two in space with her freshman teammate Gabriela Maldonado that would have added to her team-leading tally with her 13^th goal of the season. But the Bulldogs survived the attack and remained just a goal down in the 19^th minute.

Gomez-Junco again created the best opportunity for the Tigers to put the match beyond Mississippi State’s reach on the hour when she curled a left-footed corner kick off the crossbar and into space just outside their six-yard box. Sophomore defender Jordane Carvery ran onto the loose ball and fired the rebound just over the bar from eight yards.

The Mexican international led the attack on the night with a team-leading five shots and two shots on goal in 90 minutes of action. Baucom followed with two shots and one shot on goal in the victory.

While the Bulldogs managed 12 shot attempts on the night, the LSU defense limited the visitors to just two shots on target that senior goalkeeper Catalina Rubiano kept out of the net for her sixth clean sheet in her 17 starts on the season. Rubiano, who has now held LSU’s opponents off the scoreboard in each of the last two matches, dropped her goals against average to an impressive 1.06 on the season.

“This is a big three points for our team, and another big step forward as we push for postseason qualification,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We really battled it out tonight for the full 90 (minutes). That is the kind of effort you have to give at the business end of the season when results are what matter most. The challenge now is to replicate that again here on Sunday afternoon against a very good South Carolina team.”

The Tigers will look to remain unbeaten at home on Sunday afternoon when they return to action against the 17^th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks in a match that is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Stadium. They will then wrap up their 2015 regular season in Lexington, Kentucky, next Thursday night with a match against the Kentucky Wildcats that will kick off at 5:30 p.m. CT.

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