Missouri soccer ends the season with a loss at home against LSU, going 1-2 over the last three games
Missouri soccer finished their 2024 campaign with a loss against LSU. The Tigers fell to 5-10-2 (3-6-1 SEC), while LSU moved to 9-7-3 (3-5-2 SEC). Missouri struggled out of the gates early in the season, but put together a string of wins to make a run at the SEC tournament. They followed up a win against Oklahoma with two losses in a row to Texas and LSU to end the regular season. Here are three things we learned from the final games.
Leah Selm’s Offensive Presence and the Emergence of Keegan Good
Senior Leah Selm, like many of her Tiger teammates, started out slow on the offensive side of the ball this year. She registered just one goal prior to the beginning of conference play. She has been on a tear lately, including two goals and one assist in a five-point performance against Oklahoma. The senior from St. Louis has scored multiple times, turning her season performance around. She is making her last season count, and it’s shown over the last few games.
Missouri’s other key offensive piece over the last few games has been midfielder Keegan Good. Good has started every game for the Tigers this year, registering three goals. Two of them came in the last three games against Oklahoma and Texas.
Good and Selm have provided some much-needed firepower for the Tigers, not just as goal-scorers, but as opportunity creators. Good took five shots alone in the game against LSU while taking three against Oklahoma and Texas combined.
Kate Phillips’ Performance
Sophomore goalkeeper Kate Phillips found herself in an everyday starter role after Bella Hollenbach went down with an injury on Sept. 22 against Arkansas. Phillips started the final 10 games of the season, allowing 19 goals over that span. She finished the season strong, allowing only five goals over three games.
Her consistency in the net has kept the score close in most games and allowed the Tigers’ offense a chance to make something happen at the other end of the field. In Phillips’ last three games, she’s averaging 1.6 goals allowed while making 3.3 saves per game.
Defensive inconsistency
The Tigers’ defense has been very inconsistent this year. They gave up one goal against Oklahoma, and allowed three from Texas, all in the second half. Those second-half woes continued against LSU, as they scored the only goal of the match in the 68th minute.
The defense allowed 15 and 17 shots to Oklahoma and Texas, respectively, but only seven to LSU. While the Sooners only managed one goal, they had plenty of opportunities that Missouri allowed toward their net. Texas put three on the board against the Tigers, converting half of their shots-on-goal.
This inconsistency for the defense in goals allowed is a big reason why Missouri is losing games. The offense has put up more goals recently because of shots from Good and Selm, but they need their teammates to step up and help in order to win future games.
With the loss to LSU, Missouri needed the Tennessee Volunteers to lose their game on Wednesday, Oct. 30, to qualify for the SEC tournament. However, Tennessee won their game, so Missouri will not qualify for the tournament this year.
Edited by Dylan Heinrich | dheinrich@themaneater.com
Copyedited by Ethan Palgon and Hannah Taylor | htaylor@themaneater.com
Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com