BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team looks to earn its ninth-straight victory versus an in-state opponent on Wednesday, as the Tigers travel to face the Louisiana-Monroe Indians at 7 p.m.
“I think that right now Louisiana-Monroe is playing the best soccer in the state,” said LSU head coach George Fotopoulos. “They just beat Northwestern State last week and that was a huge win, because Northwestern State made it to the NCAA’s last season. I think that we’re basically going into tomorrow’s game as the underdog.”
The Tigers head to Monroe, La., with an overall record of 4-2 on the season and with an undefeated 3-0 mark against Louisiana schools. Earlier in the season, LSU defeated McNeese State, 5-0, Louisiana-Lafayette, 3-0, and Nicholls State, 3-0.
Louisiana-Monroe enters Wednesday’s contest with a 4-2-1 overall record and the Indians are in the midst of a three-game winning streak. ULM is 3-0 in conference play and has notched wins over Northwestern State, 3-2, Stephen F. Austin, 4-3, and McNeese State, 2-1, in their most-recent matches.
Both LSU and Louisiana-Monroe have played South Alabama on the road this season. The Indians lost, 2-0, at “The Cage” in Mobile, Ala., on Sept. 7, while the LSU soccer team fell a goal short on Sept. 19, 2-1. The contest was the Tigers’ first road game of the season and was their return to competition after the national tragedies of Sept. 11.
“We’re really playing this team at the wrong time,” Fotopoulos said. “They are the hottest team around right now and it’s going to be very tough playing them on the road. We needed to add a game to our schedule because of the postponements and Louisiana-Monroe said they would play us.”
Wednesday’s in-state battle was not originally included on LSU’s schedule.
Coach Fotopoulos added the game last week after losing two matches due to the terrorist attacks on New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.
LSU is undefeated versus the Indians and owns a 2-0 lead in the all-time series. In the first matchup of the series, the Tigers earned a 5-0 win at the LSU Soccer Complex in 1999. Last season, LSU made the trip to Monroe, La., and notched a 4-2 victory.
The LSU soccer team will make its second trip to the University of Louisiana at Monroe on Wednesday to face the Indians at 7 p.m.