BATON ROUGE — Six NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, a pair of national powers from the state of Texas and a tournament appearance in Annapolis, Md., highlight the LSU soccer team’s 2006 schedule released by head coach Brian Lee on Friday.
“This is quite possibly the strongest schedule in our program’s history and features teams that have had a lot of success on a national level,” Lee said. “Our girls will definitely be tested on the field this season because we’ll be facing teams that compete for postseason bids year in and year out and that are fixtures in the NCAA Tournament.
“It should be an exciting year for LSU soccer. I know our players and our fans are anxious for us to get out on the field and show what we can do.”
The Tigers open the season Aug. 25 in Dallas, Texas, against perennial postseason contender SMU and welcome nationally-ranked Texas to the LSU Soccer Complex on Sept. 13 in what should be the team’s first meeting with a ranked non-conference opponent in Baton Rouge since the 1999 season.
The Mustangs advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and have made five consecutive postseason appearances, while the Longhorns have made five straight trips to the NCAA Tournament of their own after advancing to the first round last year.
LSU’s conference slate features matches against four teams that earned a postseason berth in 2005, including Florida, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. The Tigers open conference play at home against the Commodores on Sept. 22 and also welcome the Gators to Baton Rouge one month later in a match scheduled for Oct. 22.
The Tigers will travel to take on the Rebels and Lady Volunteers in back-to-back games scheduled for Oct. 1 and Oct. 6, respectively.
A match against in-state rival UL-Lafayette on Aug. 29 is the team’s home opener and kicks off a three-game non-conference home stand that includes matches against Sam Houston State on Sept. 1 and Houston on Sept. 3. The Tigers will then compete in a pair of games in Annapolis, Md., against Navy on Sept. 8 and Villanova on Sept. 10.
LSU’s non-conference schedule concludes on the third weekend of September with road matches against South Alabama on Sept. 15 and Southern Mississippi on Sept. 17.
“We’re very pleased with how our non-conference schedule has come together this season,” Lee said. “We have a great mix of challenging home and away matches highlighted by some great programs like SMU and Texas. It’ll give our players a great test as they prepare for conference play in late September.”
Joining Vanderbilt on the opening weekend of conference play is Kentucky in a home match scheduled for Sept. 24. The Tigers will play host to a trio of Western Division rivals to round out their home slate as they welcome Auburn (Oct. 13), Alabama (Oct. 15) and Arkansas (Oct. 27) to the LSU Soccer Complex in the month of October.
LSU’s match against the Lady Razorbacks will be the team’s regular season finale before the SEC Tournament kicks off at the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Ala., for the third straight year beginning Nov. 1.
In addition to Ole Miss and Tennessee, the Tigers will travel to play three other SEC foes, including Mississippi State on Sept. 29 and Eastern Division rivals Georgia and South Carolina on Oct. 8 and Oct. 20, respectively.
“We definitely have a great SEC schedule with perennial NCAA Tournament teams like Florida, Auburn and Vanderbilt coming to Baton Rouge,” Lee said. “It’s tremendous any time we have teams like Texas, Florida and Auburn included in our 10 home games. It’s going to make for an exciting year of soccer in Baton Rouge.”
Season ticket packages for the LSU’s 10 home games are available for $50 and can be purchased online at www.LSUsports.net.