FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The LSU soccer team looks to win its final Southeastern Conference game on Friday, as the Tigers invade Fayetteville, Ark., for a Western Division battle against the Arkansas Lady’Backs at 7 p.m.
“We’re looking forward to this weekend,” said LSU head coach George Fotopoulos. “Both Arkansas and Texas are good teams and it’s going to be a challenge for our girls to pick up some wins this weekend. We earned a huge victory over Arkansas last season and they remember it. On Friday, they (Arkansas) are going to come out with a lot of emotion and play us hard.”
LSU heads into the SEC Western Division match-up with an overall record of 7-6-3 and a conference mark of 1-5-2. With only two games remaining in the 2001 campaign, a win over Arkansas on Friday will ensure that the Tigers will finish with their second straight winning season.
The LSU soccer program has achieved the mark of two consecutive winning seasons once in its six-year existence. In 1995 and 1996, the Tigers finished with records of 11-9-1 and 11-8, respectively.
“A winning season is always a positive for a program,” Fotopoulos said. “We have an extremely young team this year and finishing with a winning record is a major goal for us as an institution. Granted, we have had some setbacks this season, but we are going to build from this experience and only get better in the years to come.”
The Lady ?Backs enter Friday’s contest with a 5-13 overall record on the season and a 1-7 mark in the SEC. Arkansas owns a 1-7 record in its previous eight contests with the lone win coming against Southwest Missouri State at home on Oct. 24, 4-0.
Arkansas’ only conference victory of the season was a 4-1 blowout of Mississippi State in the conference opener. Holly Collins, a senior from Snowhomish, Wash., led the Lady ?Backs with two goals in the win.
“Arkansas can be a very dangerous team,” said LSU head coach George Fotopoulos. “They dominated a really good team in Mississippi State and that proves that they have the ability and the talent to beat just about anyone. I think that they are an especially tough team to play at home.”
The all-time series between the Tigers and Arkansas is deadlocked at three wins apiece. LSU has never been victorious at Lady ?Back Field and the Tigers are 0-2 while playing in Fayetteville, Ark. Last season, LSU blanked Arkansas, 1-0, at home in the LSU Soccer Complex.
The LSU soccer team will conclude its 2001 SEC schedule on Friday, as the Tigers match up against the Arkansas Lady ?Backs at 7 p.m. in Fayetteville, Ark.