BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team, which has competed against perhaps the toughest schedule in the Southeastern Conference this fall, has cracked the Top 50 in the latest Ratings Percentage Index released by the NCAA for the first time this season.
The Tigers are currently rated No. 47 in the RPI and are in position to earn their first NCAA Tournament berth in the program’s 11-year history as they are also in the latest tournament projections released by Top Drawer Soccer on Monday.
“This is just further evidence that this program is moving in the right direction in the landscape of women’s college soccer,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “One of our goals coming in was to schedule the best teams in the country that would play us, and we have done that. We hope to finish strong these last five games to be in position to earn an NCAA bid.”
The Tigers have faced seven teams currently ranked among the Top 35 teams in the latest RPI, including No. 9 Vanderbilt, No. 12 Villanova, No. 15 Navy, No. 16 SMU, No. 24 Texas, No. 32 Tennessee and No. 35 Ole Miss. They are also scheduled to face No. 14 Florida and No. 26 Auburn in the next two weeks.
This is arguably the most competitive season the SEC has ever experienced as a total of eight squads are ranked among the Top 65 in the RPI with No. 53 Arkansas and No. 65 South Carolina joining the other six and each still having the opportunity to win the overall SEC Championship.
“This season is unprecedented with the SEC being a legitimate seven bid league for the NCAA Tournament,” Lee said. “That is something that has never happened in the history of this conference. It just shows the commitment that the schools in the SEC have made to women’s soccer and that this is one of the most competitive conferences in the country.”
The Tigers can take a big step in securing an NCAA Tournament berth by defeating SEC Western Division rival Auburn at home on Friday with the two teams squaring off at the LSU Soccer Complex at 7 p.m. They follow with a home match against the Alabama Crimson Tide on Sunday at 1 p.m.