BATON ROUGE — With the 2008 season now in full swing, the LSU soccer team will put its school record 12-game home unbeaten streak on the line Monday night as they welcome the BYU Cougars to the LSU Soccer Complex in a match scheduled for 7 p.m.
The Tigers, who opened the season with a 2-0 win over South Alabama on Friday, have remained unbeaten at home since dropping a narrow 2-1 decision to Auburn on Oct. 13, 2006.
LSU will face a tough test if it hopes to extend its streak to 13 games as BYU is a program with a winning tradition as one of the more dominant teams in the Mountain West Conference under the direction of veteran head coach Jennifer Rockwood.
The Cougars have earned an NCAA Tournament berth in each of the last three seasons and won their fifth MWC Tournament championship in program history a year ago. They are led by one of the premier forwards in all of women’s college soccer as senior All-American Katie Larkin is one of 47 players nationwide to be named to the 2008 Hermann Award Watch List.
The Cougars also opened up the 2008 season with a win on Friday night as they went on the road to defeat Cal Poly by a 2-1 margin in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
“This will be a tremendous early season test for our club to see where we are at this stage of the game,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “BYU is a program that has proven to be one of the best in the country in recent years and has an impressive postseason pedigree. We have a lot of respect for the job Coach Rockwood has done in establishing BYU among the nation’s elite.
“We’re going to have to be a lot sharper both offensively and defensively than we were on Friday night if we hope to come out with a good result against BYU. Our team understands the challenge that it will face tomorrow night and that we must be at the top of our game from the kick off.”
Monday is LSU Residential Hall Night at the LSU Soccer Complex as the first 200 residential hall students through the gate will receive a free LSU Tigers travel mug.
Fans are also encouraged to dress in their favorite LSU spirit attire as there will be a spirit contest at halftime of the match. The winner of the LSU Spirit Contest will receive two free tickets to the Tigers’ season opening football game against Appalachian State on Saturday.
Fans who are unable to make it out to the LSU Soccer Complex on Monday night can listen to the game live by logging on to www.totalsportsradio.com with Jason Kelly on the call. The broadcast will begin with a pre-game show approximately 15 minutes prior to kick off.
After battling the Cougars, the Tigers go on the road next weekend as they travel to Evanston, Ill., to compete in the Lakeside Invitational hosted by the Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten. LSU will take on Northwestern on Saturday at 7 p.m. before squaring off against NCAA Tournament tested Loyola-Chicago on Sept. 1 at 6 p.m. at Lakeside Field.
Northwestern kicked off its season with a 4-3 win over Nebraska, while Loyola-Chicago earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over DePaul on Friday night.