BATON ROUGE — With the start of the 2007 season right around the corner, LSU head soccer coach Brian Lee put his squad through its first two-a-day practice of fall camp Wednesday with a pair of training sessions at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the LSU Soccer Complex.
The Tigers have 17 more training sessions scheduled in the next two weeks and five more two-a-day practices as they prepare for the season opener against Southern Miss on Aug. 31.
The squad kicked off the morning practice with a fitness run followed by a technical-based training session and a full-length scrimmage with 11 players on each side. The team warmed up in the afternoon before taking part in a series of 7 v 7 scrimmages.
“It was a great first day getting back on the practice field, and I think we’re all excited about the potential of this year’s team,” Lee said. “First and foremost, we’re in shape. We graded out great on fitness this morning, and that’s a giant step toward a productive fall season. It’ll allow us to have a fast-paced and productive preseason camp.”
Lee said that the maturity level of this year’s squad is evident as it returns all 11 starters and a total of 16 letterwinners from a season ago. Among those is a large sophomore class that earned a valuable year of experience competing in the Southeastern Conference in 2006.
“The maturity of this team is well ahead of where it was a year ago at this time,” Lee said. “That’s only natural with the number of freshmen we had last year. Although we’re still young, our returning kids are totally different people and players than they were a year ago. We’re very pleased at where they are in that aspect.”
Although the Tigers will rely on a seasoned group of returning standouts for their success in the fall, they welcome the services of a few talented newcomers who look to add valuable depth and compete for playing time in their first season in the program.
“There has been another influx of talent with some kids who have a chance to make an immediate impact in their first year,” Lee said. “They did great and fared really well with what we threw at them in our first day of practice. Lindsay Lum, Taryne Boudreau and some of the others have put themselves in a position to crack the playing rotation right away.”
Junior defender Casey Crawford is one of five Tigers who returns after starting all 20 games a year ago, and she believes this year’s team has the combination of talent and experience that is needed to compete for its first SEC title in program history.
“We took a big first step today toward our goal of competing for an SEC Championship,” Crawford said. “This team is motivated and we’re much more experienced as we start fall camp this year as opposed to last year. The girls seem to have a better understanding of what it takes to compete at this level. We came out and had two great practices today.”
Senior leadership is also going to play an important role in the Tigers’ success this season, and Sara Pollock is one of just three seniors to return to the roster in 2007. Pollock has been described by her head coach as “one of the best leaders that I’ve ever been around.”
“I believe in each girl on this team, and I want them to know that I believe in them and that this is going to be a memorable season for all of us,” Pollock said. “It’s important for me to come in each day and give them 100 percent of what I have. If I can do that and push them harder, then I know that they’ll be better for it.”