BATON ROUGE — First-year LSU head soccer coach Brian Lee welcomed 20 players to campus Tuesday to begin preparations for the 2005 season opener against Oregon State at the Oregon Classic in Eugene, Aug. 26.
Freshman forward Lucy Martin underwent surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and will join the team early next week.
The Tigers will hit the field at the LSU Soccer Complex for their first practice Wednesday at 7 a.m. followed by a second practice at 7 p.m. LSU will hold four two-a-day practice sessions and five one-a-day practice sessions before its scrimmage against Northwestern State on Aug. 19.
“We’re just looking forward to starting fall practice,” Lee said. “We will certainly use these practices to gauge where we are as a team. The upperclassmen have worked hard during the summer, and we are looking to see how they carry that over into the fall. We also want to see how our incoming freshmen stack up to the competition.”
LSU returns six starters to a squad that posted an 8-11-1 mark last season, including midfielder Caroline Vanderpool, who spent the summer touring Mexico with the U20 Canadian National Team.
Among the other returning starters who reported Tuesday are senior midfielder Kate Ripple, senior defenders Tara Mitnick and Holly Davis, sophomore forward Elena Sutherland and sophomore goalkeeper Valerie Vogler. The Tigers also welcome eight incoming freshmen to join the 13 returning letterwinners.
Lee said he believes that this fall camp can build a foundation not only for this season, but also for the future of the LSU women’s soccer program.
“While we want to give the returning seniors a taste of success in their final season here at LSU, we ultimately want to lay the foundation to make LSU one of the most respected programs in the SEC and the nation,” Lee said. “It starts now with this fall camp. We want to be competitive on and off the field, and we want to represent LSU to the best of our ability.”