BATON ROUGE — The 11th-ranked LSU soccer team is set to open play in the first round of the 2008 SEC Tournament on Wednesday at it takes on Ole Miss in a match scheduled for a noon CT kickoff at the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Ala.
The SEC Tournament returns to Orange Beach for the fourth-straight season and will begin with four first-round games during Wednesday’s action. Two semifinal matches are set for Friday and the final is set for Sunday at 2:30 p.m. with a live television broadcast on Fox Sports Net South.
The SEC West champion Tigers (13-3-1, 7-3-1 SEC) will compete as the No. 2 seed following a 3-1 win over Arkansas on Friday night that clinched their second straight division title.
This marks their highest seed in seven appearances all-time at the SEC Tournament after playing as the No. 4 seed and advancing to the semifinal round a year ago. LSU will square off against an Ole Miss club that enters the match with the No. 7 seed after wrapping up the regular season with a 7-9-3 overall record and 5-5-1 mark with 16 points in Southeastern Conference play.
The Tigers saw their school record seven-game winning streak to start the season snapped by the Rebels after suffering a 1-0 defeat at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium in Oxford back on Sept. 28.
“Ole Miss presents a very difficult challenge for us in the opening round of the SEC Tournament tomorrow, but that is just part of competing in one of the top conferences in the country,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “This has been a very competitive series over the years and we know that tomorrow’s match will be no different. It should be a great match to start the postseason.”
LSU is looking to build on its success in the SEC Tournament success from a year ago when the club advanced to the semifinal round for just the second time in program history. The Tigers drew No. 5 seed Auburn by the score of 2-2 in the first round before advancing to the semifinal through penalty kicks, 4-2. LSU then fell to SEC Tournament champion Florida in the semifinals.
Wednesday’s match marks the first time that LSU and Ole Miss will face one another in the SEC Tournament as the sides enter the match with identical 6-6-2 records in the all-time series. The Rebels will be competing in the conference tournament for the 12th straight season.
The SEC Tournament champion will be awarded an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament when bids are handed out by the selection committee on Monday at 7 p.m. CT on ESPNews.
“We feel very good about where we are as a team going into this tournament, but we know we’ll have to take it one game at a time if we hope to have success,” Lee said. “This is without a doubt the most exciting time of year. When you get into tournament play, you have to be at your best or there is a good chance you will be going home. That’s the challenge every team will now face.”
The winner between LSU and Ole Miss will take on the winner of the match featuring No. 3 seed Auburn and No. 6 seed Tennessee in Friday’s semifinal round at 5 p.m. CT. Live stats for all seven matches at this year’s SEC Tournament can be found by logging on to www.secsports.com.