BATON ROUGE — The 20th-ranked LSU soccer team puts its four-game unbeaten streak on the line Sunday as it travels to Gainesville, Fla., to take on the red-hot 22nd-ranked Florida Gators in a match scheduled for 11 a.m. CDT at James G. Presly Stadium.
The Tigers (10-2-6, 4-1-4 SEC) clinched an SEC Tournament berth and moved into first place in the SEC West following a 1-1 draw with 25th-ranked South Carolina on Thursday night.
They are also unbeaten in their last five matches against nationally-ranked opponents dating back to a 1-1 draw with No. 12 Florida in Baton Rouge on Oct. 22 of last season.
The Gators (10-4-2, 6-2-0 SEC) enter the match riding a six-game winning streak in the league as they have not tasted defeat since dropping a 2-0 decision to the Tennessee Lady Volunteers Sept. 30. They are coming off of a narrow 1-0 shutout on the road at Arkansas on Thursday night.
“Florida is going to be extremely well-coached and are on a roll coming in winning five straight,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “Doing that in the SEC is really saying something because every match is very tough game in and game out. They’re one of the top 20 teams in the country again this year and will be in the mix when push comes to shove in the NCAA Tournament.”
After dropping two straight matches to open the SEC play, the Gators have rolled off six straight wins and have climbed back into the national polls as they are ranked as high as No. 22 this week.
Florida has been outstanding in conference play as it has only allowed one goal during its current winning streak. The side has allowed a league low five goals in eight SEC matches and boasts the SEC’s best goals against average in league play at 0.62 since the SEC’s opening weekend.
The Gators also feature one of the league’s premier offensive attacks in SEC play as they rank second with 16 goals scored in eight matches for a league leading goals per game average of 2.00.
“Our kids love the challenge of playing the best teams in the country,” Lee said. “We like the challenge just to see where we stand against one of the best teams in the country at this stage in the season. We’ll see that again on Sunday. It’s a great way to measure ourselves and measure how we’re playing as a group, so we’re excited about the challenge.”
LSU is making a strong case to receive an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament as the squad is currently ranked No. 21 in the latest Ratings Percentage Index released Tuesday morning while it boasts an impressive 3-1-4 mark against teams ranked among the RPI Top 50.
The Tigers are also unbeaten with a 2-0-3 mark against teams currently ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation, including a 3-0 shutout of then sixth-ranked Tennessee and a dominating 4-1 win over 25th-ranked Miami when the Hurricanes were unranked earlier this season.
“One of our goals for the season is to get to the NCAA Tournament and we feel like we’re in the conversation,” Lee said. “We feel like we have a talented team that’s worked really hard, and there’s still a lot of work to be done over the last couple of games to make sure that happens.”
The Tigers wrap up the regular season with a trip to Fayetteville, Ark., next weekend to take on the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks on Friday night in a match scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Lady ?Back Field. The 2007 SEC Tournament will run from Nov. 7-11 at the Orange Beach SportsPlex in Orange Beach, Ala.