BATON ROUGE — After seeing its four-game unbeaten streak snapped Friday night, the 19th-ranked LSU soccer team looks to get back on the winning track Sunday afternoon as it travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on Alabama at 1 p.m.
The Tigers (8-2-4, 2-1-2 SEC) suffered their first loss in Southeastern Conference play after falling to Auburn 2-0 on Friday night, while the Crimson Tide (9-4-1, 2-2-1 SEC) shut out the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks by a identical 2-0 margin.
LSU was on the winning side of a 4-2 margin in the last meeting between the sides on Oct. 15, 2006, while Alabama holds a commanding 9-2-1 mark in the all-time series.
“Alabama is a club that has really turned it around over the last year,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “They only won one game in the league a year ago, but they’ve had some good results and are sitting on seven points after five SEC games this year. They present a great challenge because they’re really deep, which is a huge advantage when playing two games in three days.
“They’re deeper, faster and more athletic than they’ve ever been, and Coach (Don) Staley does a great job getting his kids ready to play. They’re especially tough at home in big games, so we’ll be excited about the challenge when we kick it off on Sunday.”
The Crimson Tide boast one of the premier offensive attacks in the SEC as they rank second in the league in goals scored with 32, trailing only LSU’s output of 33 goals on the season.
Freshman Carly Mygrants is Alabama’s top goal scorer with five despite starting only one game on the season, while junior Kailey Corken, sophomore Alex Butrera and freshman Victoria Frederick follow closely behind with four goals apiece. Butrera, who scored both of Alabama’s goals against Arkansas on Friday night, is the team’s top scorer with 13 points.
LSU looks to keep pace in the SEC race as it enters the match in sole possession of fifth place in the league standings at eight points, while Alabama currently sits in sixth place at seven points.
The Tigers follow Sunday’s match with a trip through the SEC Eastern Division as they go on the road to take on Vanderbilt (4-6-2, 1-2-1 SEC) on Friday at 7 p.m. CDT in Nashville, Tenn., and Kentucky (6-5-2, 0-5-0 SEC) on Oct. 21 at noon in Lexington, Ky.