BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team looks to put together its second winning streak of the young season when it travels to Hattiesburg, Miss., on Sunday to take on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at 2 p.m. at the Marshall Bell Soccer Complex.
The Tigers (4-4) are coming off of a dominating 3-0 shutout of South Alabama on Friday in which freshman midfielder Michelle Makasini posted LSU’s first hat trick in more than two years. Makasini leads the team and the rest of the Southeastern Conference with seven goals and 17 points on the season.
“Last night was a big win for our young team because it was our first road win of the season,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We’ve now got a taste of what it feels like to win on the road and we’ll try to repeat that on Sunday against a quality team in Southern Miss.”
LSU has never faced Southern Miss (2-3-1) in its 11-year history and is 3-4 all-time against teams from Conference USA. This is the Tigers’ third meeting with a Conference USA team in 2006 as they fell to the SMU Mustangs by the score of 2-0 to open the season on Aug. 25 and crushed Houston at home by the score of 6-1 on Sept. 3.
“There’s no question that Conference USA is a strongly rated conference year in and year out,” Lee said. “SMU is a team that has been to the NCAA Tournament five years in a row and has had success, and we’re happy to have the opportunity to be in a home and home series with both Southern Miss and Houston.”
The Golden Eagles are led by a trio of prolific goal scorers with sophomore forward Sarah McFadden headlining the group with five goals and 12 points on the season. Senior midfielder Carly Barkley follows closely behind with four goals, while sophomore midfielder Jessica Stephens has added three goals of her own.
This marks the third straight match for Southern Miss against an opponent from the Southeastern Conference as it is coming off of a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Mississippi State on Sept. 10, while also falling to the Ole Miss Rebels by the same score on Sept. 8.
“Southern Miss is a well-coached team and will be very organized when we play on Sunday,” Lee said. “They’re going to provide our young kids a stiff test on the road as we prepare for the start of our SEC schedule next weekend. We looking forward to a great match tomorrow.”
The Tigers open SEC play next weekend as they welcome SEC Eastern Division rivals Vanderbilt and Kentucky to the LSU Soccer Complex in matches scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m., respectively.