TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The LSU soccer team will face its second-consecutive top-25 team on Sunday, as the Tigers challenge the 10th-ranked Florida State Seminoles at the newly-refurbished Seminole Soccer Complex here in Tallahassee, Fla.
“I feel that we played really well against Miami on Friday,” said LSU head coach George Fotopoulos. “We proved that we can we play tough against a top-25 opponent and we had our chances to win that game. The challenge for us now is to get prepared for another very good team in Florida State and show that we can consistently compete with some the nation’s best.”
LSU heads into Sunday’s matchup with a 1-1 overall record after defeating Stephen F. Austin, 2-0, in its season opener and falling to the 23rd-ranked Miami Hurricanes, 1-0, on Friday. In their first-ever contest against Miami, the Tigers held an explosive Hurricane squad scoreless for 84 minutes before Allison McWhinney earned the game-winning goal. Miami averaged six goals per game in its first two victories of the season versus Stetson and South Florida.
Florida State, the highly-touted hosts of the 2002 Seminole Classic, own a 1-0-2 overall record and have not been defeated at home by a non-conference opponent in 20 games. The last time that Florida State lost a game at home to a non-ACC team was the home opener versus Miami in 1999.
In the first three games of the Seminoles’ 2002 campaign, Florida State recorded a 2-1 victory over Oregon sandwiched between ties with both Oregon State and Missouri. The Seminoles opened the season with a 0-0 draw with Oregon State, defeated Oregon and then tied Missouri, 2-2, here in the Seminole Classic on Friday.
Sunday’s contest against Florida State will mark the first time in LSU’s eight-year existence that the Tigers have faced top-25 opponents in back-to-back contests. Miami was the No. 23-ranked team in the nation and Florida State is currently ranked No. 10. The last time that LSU faced a top-10 ranked team was on Sept. 7, 2001, against Florida.
“As a team, we look forward to playing some of the top teams,” Fotopoulos said. “The girls always step up their level of play against the better teams and hopefully we can show how good we are on Sunday against Florida State.”
The LSU soccer team will seek to earn its first-ever victory over a top-10 opponent on Sunday, as the Tigers face 10th-ranked Florida State at 1 p.m. (CST) here in Tallahassee, Fla.