BATON ROUGE — The 13th-ranked LSU soccer team is one of the hottest clubs in the SEC and will look to extend its school-record winning streak in league play to six games Thursday when it travels to Columbia, S.C., to battle the South Carolina Gamecocks at 6 p.m. CT.
The Gamecocks have proven to be nearly unbeatable at home over the past two seasons while the team is riding a 12-game unbeaten streak at Stone Stadium entering Thursday’s match.
But the Tigers (12-2, 6-2 SEC) are playing at their best at the right time of the season as they are in sole possession of second place in the overall SEC standings with 18 points in conference play, trailing only first-place Florida by six points on the league table. The club has not tasted defeat in the SEC since dropping a 1-0 road decision to Tennessee back on Oct. 3.
The series between LSU and South Carolina has been dominated by the Gamecocks as they enter play with a 6-1-2 mark. The sides played to a 1-1 draw in Baton Rouge on Oct. 25 of last season, and the Tigers picked up their only win in the series by a 1-0 score in 1995.
LSU is ranked as high as No. 13 in this week’s Soccer America Top 25, while it is also No. 19 in the latest Soccer Times Top 25 and No. 22 in the current Soccer Buzz Top 30.
“There’s no question that this is a big game for both teams, and we’re going into a place that has never been very friendly to the opposition,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “It will be great challenge for our team to go into South Carolina and get a result. We feel like they are one of the better teams in this SEC this season and have proven that with the way they’ve played.”
After losing five seniors from the starting lineup of last year’s squad, South Carolina has been led by the play of true freshman Kayla Grimsley this fall. Grimsley has scored eight goals and 20 points this season, which are five goals and 13 points more than the team’s second-leading scorer.
The Lakeland, Fla., native has helped lead the Gamecocks to a 10-4-3 overall record with a 4-3-1 mark and 13 points in SEC play in 2008, which currently ranks sixth on the league table.
“We’re going to have to be on top of our game and play with intensity and focus for 90 minutes if we hope to come away with a win tomorrow night,” Lee said. “South Carolina has shown the ability to compete with the best teams in the country after drawing NCAA runner-up Florida State earlier in the year. They would surely be in the NCAA Tournament if bids were awarded today.”
LSU will once again rely on an offensive attack that is among the best in the league this season as the Tigers have scored more goals than any other team in the league with 40 in 14 matches, which includes a total of 19 goals in eight SEC games to rank second in the conference.
And junior Hermann Trophy candidate Malorie Rutledge continues to lead the LSU attack with a total of eight goals and 14 assists for 30 points this fall. Rutledge is also the SEC’s leading scorer in conference play with seven goals and seven assists for 21 points in the SEC. Her 14 assists this season breaks her own single-season school record of 12 set a year ago.
Rutledge is the nation’s most prolific assist maker this season as she ranks No. 1 in the NCAA in average assists per game (1.00) and No. 2 in the country in total assists (14).
What might be even more impressive is that Rutledge has either scored or assisted with the game-winning goal in each of LSU’s six wins in the Southeastern Conference this season. Rutledge has assisted with game-winners against Mississippi State and Kentucky, while she scored the winning goal against Georgia, Auburn, Alabama and Vanderbilt.
When a potent offensive attack is combined with one of the league’s top defensive units, it is sure to produce results as evidence by LSU’s performance this season. The Tigers lead the league with a 0.64 goals against average in all competitions, and are second with a 0.87 GAA in SEC play.
Leading the LSU defense is freshman goalkeeper Mo Isom, who has played every minute in goal in her first season at the collegiate level. Her six shutouts rank second in the SEC.
After battling the Gamecocks on Thursday night, the Tigers will return home Sunday to play host to the sixth-ranked Florida Gators in a match scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff at the LSU Soccer Complex. The Gators (13-2-1, 8-0 SEC) are in the driver’s seat to win the SEC title and enter the weekend with a 20-game winning streak against league opponents dating back to last season.