BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team is slated to play one of the nation’s toughest schedules during the spring as it takes on a total of three NCAA Tournament teams from the 2006 season as announced by head coach Brian Lee on Wednesday.
“It’s important in the development of our program to play top-level teams, and the scheduled we’ve put together is as good as it gets whether it’s the spring or the fall,” Lee said. “Our coaches and players are looking forward to the challenge that we will face this spring against some of the top programs in the nation.”
The Tigers open on the road against Texas A&M on Feb. 24 in a match scheduled for 7 p.m. in College Station, Texas. The Aggies are the three-time defending champions of the Big 12 Conference and finished the season ranked No. 5 in the country according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Texas A&M staked its claim as one of the top teams in the nation in 2006 as it reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual national champion North Carolina. The Aggies actually vaulted to the No. 3 spot in the rankings early in the season after defeating the Tar Heels in overtime by the score of 1-0 on Aug. 25.
The schedule is also highlighted by a tour of North Carolina where the Tigers will face a pair of teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They will travel to Winston-Salem on March 23 to take on Wake Forest at 6 p.m. CST followed by a match in Durham against Duke on March 25 at 11 a.m.
The Demon Deacons were ranked as high as No. 9 in the NSCAA Top 25 during the 2006 season and finished the year at No. 19 after their NCAA Tournament run, while the Blue Devils earned a signature win against third-ranked Florida State on Oct. 22 after starting the season as high as No. 12 in the country.
In addition to matches against such nationally-ranked programs as Texas A&M, Wake Forest and Duke, the Tigers will also face a pair of in-state rivals during the spring season as they will take on Southeastern Louisiana and Northwestern State in a doubleheader on March 15 at the LSU Soccer Complex with times still yet to be determined.
The Tigers close out the spring against conference rival Ole Miss on March 31 in a match scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the Freedom Ridge Soccer Complex in Ridgeland, Miss. The match, which drew more than 4,000 fans a year ago, will be the front end of a doubleheader featuring a Major League Soccer contest between the Chicago Fire and Chivas USA.