Box Score NATCHITOCHES – Two quick goals before the sixth minute by Natalia Gomez-Junco and Summer Clarke gave LSU an early lead that it protected when the Tigers downed the Northwestern State soccer team 6-2 Friday night in non-conference action.
 
Gomez-Junco (2) curled in a free kick from the left side of the field in the third minute after NSU (1-2) was called for a foul. Clarke (2) scored just under two minutes later on a one-time shot on a cross Fernanda Pena.  LSU improved to 2-0 with the win.
 
Both players would end the game with four points apiece.
 
Yanci Johnson scored her first goal of 2014 on a left-footed shot that curled inside the post on the right side and drew the match to 2-1.  It was the 13^th goal of her career.
 
Julia Ranalli, who leads the Lady Demons in points this season, scored her second goal of the year to make it 5-2 late in the second half. Freshman Mackenzie Geier assisted her on a centering pass for a one-time shot.
 
Ranalli had four points in her career at the outset of the season.  The assist gave Geier her the first point of her career.
 
"We had almost 70 minutes of good soccer, unfortunately the other 20 were not our best," said head coach George Van Linder, who is in his third season as the leader of the NSU program.
 
"I feel bad for our players because we are capable of more," he said. "This left a bitter taste in our mouth because (LSU) is a good team and we are capable of giving them a better game."  
 
Gomez-Junco added another point to her total when she assisted Lexi Gibbs score her first goal of the season from 12 yards out in the 38^th minute.  Clarke scored her second goal of the night on an assist by Emma Fletcher in the 53^rd minute.
 
Gibbs made it 5-1 in the 66^th minute on a breakaway after a pass though by Gomez-Junco, and then assisted Jorian Baucom on a goal in the 85^th minute to push it to the 6-2 final.
 
LSU outshot the Lady Demons 16-8, and had 9 shots on-goal to NSU's two.  No Lady Demon had more than one shot on the night. Northwestern State had two corners, and LSU came away with three.
 
With the five points on Friday, the Lady Demons have 30 points through three games, more than half way to matching last season's 51 points.
 
Northwestern State will end its two-game road swing on Sunday at 1 o'clock with Texas State, and will return to the Demon Soccer Complex on Sept. 5 to face Arkansas-Little Rock.