BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team begins Southeastern Conference play Sunday afternoon against Arkansas in the LSU Soccer Complex at 1 p.m.
The Tigers are 7-1 coming into the match against the Razorbacks who are 2-4-2.
“I am ready to start SEC play this weekend,” said head coach George Fotopoulos. ? “The girls have been practicing hard, and I think our win over Northwestern State Friday night was a big confidence booster for our team.? We hope to get a lot of fans out to support us because it is the Conference opener and it will be on TV.”
This is the first LSU soccer match that will be televised as part of the SEC-TV package. ? The game will be carried by Fox Sports Southwest and can be seen on Channel 26 at 3 p.m.?
Arkansas leads the all-time series with LSU, 3-2, defeating the Tigers last year 3-0. ? The Razorbacks have traditionally held the key to the SEC Tournament for LSU. ? In 1995 and 1998 when the Tigers made appearances at the conference tournament, they beat the Razorbacks in crucial matches that decided who advanced to post-season play.
Following the lead of top scorer Kara Dean, the Tigers have scored more goals? so far during this season’s eight games with 27 goals to the 24 that was scored in 1999. ? Dean has eight goals for the season, making her one goal shy of tying the third highest single season scorers in LSU history.?
Like the offense, the Tiger defense has also been busy this season.? LSU has surpassed the 1999 shutout total of three with four shutouts in the seven Tiger victories. ? LSU opened the season with a 4-0 shut out over Troy State and had two back-to-back 2-0 shutouts on the road over Stetson University and Embry-Riddle.? This past Friday night, the Tigers defeated instate rival Northwestern State 3-0.?
The Tigers face first year program Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday night at 4 p.m. before taking to the road for two crucial SEC matches against Ole Miss on Friday evening at 7 p.m. and Mississippi State on Sunday at 1 p.m.