BATON ROUGE — Following a 2-1 overtime win over Auburn on Friday night, the 19th-ranked LSU soccer team will put its school record 15-game home unbeaten streak on the line Sunday as it plays host to the Alabama Crimson Tide in a match scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
The Tigers have not tasted defeat at the LSU Soccer Complex in nearly two years as they are 11-0-4 since dropping a 2-1 decision to Auburn on Oct. 13, 2006.
That streak continued on Friday night in dramatic fashion as LSU defeated Auburn by a matching 2-1 score thanks to junior All-American and Hermann Trophy candidate Malorie Rutledge, who scored the game-winning goal just 24 seconds into the overtime period.
Rutledge has certainly lived up to the hype with her play this fall as she is the team’s top scorer in 12 matches with four goals and 11 assists for 19 points. Perhaps there is not a more feared scorer in the Southeastern Conference this season as Rutledge is also among the league’s leading scorers with three goals and four assists for 10 points in conference play.
That includes scoring the game-winning goal in victories over Georgia and Auburn in each of the last two games to lead LSU to a 9-2 overall record and 3-2 mark in the SEC.
“Malorie has certainly been a catalyst for us on the offensive end this season, but really all of our kids deserve a lot of credit for the hard work they’ve put into having a great season to this point,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “But it’s only going to get tougher for us down the stretch as we take on the best teams in the SEC. That will continue against a good Alabama team on Sunday.”
Alabama enters Sunday’s match following a dominating 3-1 road win over Arkansas on Friday as the Crimson Tide have already surpassed last year’s win total in conference play with a 3-2 mark through five games. They are also one win shy of matching their total from a year ago as they will bring an 8-4-1 overall record into Sunday’s match.
Alabama has enjoyed immediate success under first-year head coach Todd Bramble, who took the reigns of the program following a highly successful tenure as the head coach at Clemson.
“Alabama has been outstanding to this point in the season, and they are going to present our team with another great challenge tomorrow afternoon,” Lee said. “Todd Bramble has done a great job of turning that program around in his first year. It’s definitely going to be a battle for 90 minutes.”
Despite entering Sunday’s match with a 3-9-1 mark in the all-time series with Alabama, LSU will look to extend its winning streak over the Crimson Tide to three games as it has won each of the last two matches with its last win coming on the road by a 2-1 margin on Oct. 14 of last season.
Sunday will be Zachary Soccer Association Day and Livingston Parish Soccer Association Day at the LSU Soccer Complex as members of both organizations will receive free admission to the game. It is also Tiger Kids Day with the first 250 kids through the gate receiving a free snowball, while fun activities will be available for kids throughout the afternoon.
After battling the Crimson Tide on Sunday, LSU will return to the LSU Soccer Complex to battle Vanderbilt on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. and Kentucky on Oct. 19 at 1 p.m.