BATON ROUGE — The 19th-ranked LSU soccer team puts its four-game unbeaten streak on the line this weekend as it travels to Auburn, Ala., to take on the regionally-ranked Auburn Tigers on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
LSU (8-1-4, 2-0-2 SEC) looks to improve upon its 4-9 mark all-time against Auburn (7-3-1, 3-1-0 SEC), which enters the match ranked No. 10 in the Central Region by Soccer Buzz Magazine.
The Tigers last defeated Auburn by a 1-0 margin in the first round of the 2002 Southeastern Conference Tournament in Oxford, Miss., marking the only time in tournament history that a No. 8 seed has knocked off the No. 1 seed to advance to the semifinal round.
Auburn, which is riding a current four-game winning streak in the series dating back to the 2003 season, won last year’s battle by the score of 2-1 at the LSU Soccer Complex.
“Auburn is a really good team again this year,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “They’ve got a dangerous set of forwards who are great players one-on-one and in combination. They also have a tremendous goalkeeper in Allison Whitworth who is very athletic. So, we’re going to have to deal with creative, attacking soccer on one end and a great back line and goalkeeper on the other.”
Auburn has proven to be the premier program in the SEC Western Division over the last decade as it has won five of the last six division titles, including its only conference title in 2002, while it has also received a bid to compete in the NCAA Tournament five times.
The Tigers from the Plains are currently alone in third place in the SEC standings this season after falling to Ole Miss, 2-1, on Oct. 5 followed by a 1-0 shutout of Mississippi State on Sunday.
“Auburn is the benchmark program in our division, and Karen Hoppa has done a tremendous job of building that program into a perennial contender in the SEC,” Lee said. “It’s the old saying that if you want to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man. Certainly, Auburn has been the elite team in the SEC West. It’s going to be a tough challenge, especially away from home.”
LSU is coming off of a historic weekend as it earned its first victory in program history over an opponent ranked among the nation’s top 10 with a dominating 3-0 shutout of No. 6 Tennessee on Oct. 5. It followed with a 1-1 draw against 18th-ranked Georgia on Sunday afternoon.
With their performance, the Tigers cracked the national rankings for the first time in the 13-year history of the program as they are ranked No. 19 in the latest Soccer America Top 25, No. 22 in the Soccer Times Top 25 and No. 29 in this week’s Soccer Buzz Top 30.
The squad is building a strong resume for an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament as it is currently No. 13 in the initial Ratings Percentage Index released by the NCAA on Wednesday.
“The kids have worked really hard over the last year, and they are starting to reap the benefits of their hard work,” Lee said. “While it’s nice to receive that kind of national recognition, they must stay focused on taking it day by day and strive to be the best student-athlete they can be.”
Sophomore standout Michelle Makasini led the Tigers this past weekend as she was named both the Soccer America National Player of the Week and the SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. Makasini scored a total of three goals for the weekend, including two against the Lady Volunteers and LSU’s only goal against the Bulldogs.
She is now the team’s second-leading scorer with seven goals and 16 points on the season, while she is the top scorer in SEC play with four goals and eight points in four league matches.
“Michelle has really made some positive changes in preparing for this season, and she’s starting to reap the benefits of her hard work,” Lee said. “She’s matured a lot as a player over the last year and is really starting to round into top form with the SEC season now in full swing.”
After taking on the Auburn Tigers on Friday night, LSU makes the short trip to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to battle Alabama in a match scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff at the Alabama Soccer Complex. The Crimson Tide (8-4-1, 1-2-1 SEC) host the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks on Friday night.