Clarke now tops the team’s scoring charts with her squad-best seventh goal of the season, while Gomez-Junco netted her third goal of the year as the Tigers claimed all three points from their visit to Starkville.

While getting off the mark with their first win in SEC play, the Tigers (5-6-2, 1-2-1 SEC) have now won each of their last 10 meetings in the series and are unbeaten in 13-straight matches against the Bulldogs (3-8, 0-4) as they own a 12-0-1 mark dating back to the 2002 season. The victory also moved the Tigers to 17-2-1 in the series and 9-0-1 all-time in matches played in Starkville.

The Tigers are also unbeaten in their last two conference matches that includes a 3-3 home draw with the Arkansas Razorbacks at the LSU Soccer Stadium in Baton Rouge back on Sunday afternoon.

“It was a good night for us. Three points on the road in the SEC never comes easy, and it didn’t come easy for us tonight,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “I thought we played some of our best attacking soccer so far in this season in the first half, and we were a bit unfortunate not to have more than the one goal at halftime. Natalia (Gomez-Junco) scoring right out of the break was big for us down the stretch.”

The Tigers were handed an early opportunity to break the deadlock in the 18^th minute when a strike by Clarke from inside the area was judged to be handled by one of the Bulldog defenders as the referee pointed to the penalty spot. But the ensuing spot kick by rookie striker Jorian Baucom was saved by goalkeeper Tanya de Souza to keep the Tigers off the scoreboard.

Mississippi State’s momentum was short-lived as Clarke struck back with the opener less than five minutes later as she buried her team-leading seventh goal of the season in the 23^rd minute of the first half.

Baucom bounced back in a big way from her penalty miss as she led the attack into the box, finding Clarke running free into the middle of the area for the finish into the top corner from eight yards out to give LSU its 1-0 lead at the 22:37 mark of the first half. Not did Clarke score her team-leading seventh goal of the season, but Baucom matched Natalia Gomez-Junco for the team lead with her fourth assist of the campaign.

The Tigers wasted no time in doubling their advantage after the break as Gomez-Junco finished from close range after an initial shot from Megan Lee fired off the crossbar. Gomez-Junco stuffed home the rebound for her third goal of the season to extend LSU’s lead to 2-0 in the 48^th minute just over two minutes following the restart.

With the Bulldogs threatening to cut into the LSU lead midway through the second half, striker Mary Kathryn Taylor appeared to have an opportunity at a free header to pull one back for the home side after running to the end of a cross into the box from wide. LSU’s rookie goalkeeper Lily Alfeld raced out to meet Taylor in the air, deflecting her effort wide before Alexis Urch cleared the ball from danger.

Bulldog striker Shannen Jainudeen was later denied from close range in the 78^th minute with two saves off the line by LSU defender Tori Sample as the Tigers clung to a two-goal lead with scoreboard ticking down.

The Tigers withstood the late charge by the Bulldogs to capture a 2-0 victory at full time as Alfeld made six saves on the night to post her fourth clean sheet of her debut season. Sample was credited with a pair of team saves after clearing consecutive shots by Jainudeen off the line in the waning moments as the Tigers posted their first shutout since a 0-0 home draw with Stephen F. Austin in Baton Rouge back on Sept. 8.

“Great job by our back line and Lily (Alfeld) in goal to keep a clean sheet tonight,” Lee said. “They showed improvement tonight in staying organized and battling all the way to the end of the 90 minutes.”

With their first SEC victory of the season now in the bag, the Tigers will look to extend their unbeaten streak in conference play to three games on Sunday afternoon with their trip to Columbia, South Carolina, to battle the 20^th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks at Eugene E. Stone III Stadium in a match that will kick off at Noon CT on the SEC Network+.

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