BATON ROUGE — Fresh off of its 1-0 overtime victory against in-state rival Louisiana-Lafayette, the LSU soccer team will travel to Nashville, Tenn., to take on the Belmont Bruins of the Atlantic Sun Conference on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Whitten Soccer Complex.
LSU head coach Brian Lee added Belmont (0-1) to the schedule after the Tigers’ home match against Arkansas-Pine Bluff scheduled for Thursday was cancelled due to the ongoing relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina on LSU’s campus.
This marks the first meeting between the two teams, and LSU (1-2) owns a perfect 2-0 record all-time against teams from the ASC. The Tigers defeated Jacksonville State, 5-1, on Sept. 21, 1996, and shutout Stetson, 1-0, on Sept. 7, 2000.
“It’s a little bit of unexpected travel, and it’s going to take maturity and great leadership from the seniors to make sure we’re focused come Friday night,” Lee said.
Belmont was defeated by Evansville, 3-1, in its only match of the season back on Aug. 26 and had road matches with Southeastern Louisiana and Jackson State cancelled due to the events of the past week.
Lee said he has been pleased with his team’s ability to practice despite the many distractions due to the hurricane and believes the players are using practice to help cope with the situation.
“Practices have really been great since the hurricane recovery efforts started on campus,” Lee said. “The kids are using practice as a release from the day-to-day stresses that everyone in Baton Rouge is going through right now, and it’s been good.”
The Tigers are led by junior forward Joleen Phillips, who has scored both of LSU’s goals this season, including the game-winning goal in the seventh minute of overtime against UL-Lafayette on Sunday. Freshman midfielder Melissa Clarke earned her first career point as a Tiger with the assist.
LSU will return to Baton Rouge for its home opener Sunday at 2 p.m. against Jackson State with the theme being “Take a Kid to the Game.” All adults accompanied by a child 12 and under will receive a free LSU soccer visor with the kids receiving a free LSU soccer t-shirt.