BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team travels this weekend to face Ole Miss and Mississippi State in two key Southeastern Conference Western Division matches.? The Tigers face the Rebels Friday night at 7 p.m. in Oxford and the Bulldogs on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Starkville.
“We are going into this weekend down three starters,”said head coach George Fotopoulos.? “We are in our toughest position this season without them, but I feel that our reserves will be able to step up and handle the pressure.? I think this will be a maturity game for the reserves to come in and handle the task and play without the starters.”
The Tigers enter the weekend riding a six game winning streak with a record of 9-1 for the season and 1-0 in the SEC.? The defence has totalled six shutouts this season and has not allowed a goal in over three games.
Sophomore Kara Dean leads the Tigers offensively with nine goals and two assists. ? Defensively LSU is led by goalie Bonnie Otillio who has 4.5 shutouts this season.
LSU is 3-2 all-time against Ole Miss.? The Tigers last defeated the Rebels, 2-1, in 1999 in Baton Rouge.? The Rebels enter their first SEC weekend with a record of 7-2 this season.? In 1999, Ole Miss tied with Arkansas for first in the West with a conference record of 4-5.
The Rebels are led offensively by Baton Rouge native Jennifer Soileau with four goals and eight assists and Bridget Brooks with seven goals and one assist.
For Sunday’s game against Mississippi State, the Tigers enter with an all-time record of 4-1 against the Bulldogs. LSU last defeated Mississippi State 2-0 in 1999.? The Bulldogs are 4-5 this season and will play their first SEC match against Arkansas on Friday night.? Mississippi State was 1-8 in SEC play in 1999.
Offensively, the Bulldogs are led by Jessica Kauffman with a total of 10 points, three goals and four assists.
The Tigers will return home to the LSU Soccer Complex to face Georgia on Oct. 6 and Tennessee on the 8th.