BATON ROUGE — After earning a 2-1 win over the 15th-ranked Texas Longhorns in Friday’s exhibition match, head coach Brian Lee and the LSU soccer team returned to the practice field Saturday morning for a 90-minute training session at the LSU Soccer Complex.
Saturday’s training session was merely a regeneration period for those who received playing time against the Longhorns, while Lee led the rest of his troops through a full practice beginning at 10 a.m.
Friday’s victory was a monumental one for the Tigers as it marked their first ever victory over Texas in all competitions. LSU’s senior class has now faced the Longhorns four times in both exhibition and regular season games while posting a 1-1-2 record. LSU fell 4-2 in the 2006 regular season before earning a 2-2 draw in Austin in the 2007 regular season and a 1-1 draw in the 2008 spring season.
While the Tigers are experienced with eight seniors on the roster, it was the newcomers who led the way on Friday night as freshman Carlie Banks scored the first goal of the game in the eighth minute and junior transfer Courtney Alexander netted the game-winner in the 85th minute for the 2-1 victory.
Texas enters the 2009 regular season ranked No. 15 nationally in the preseason Top 25 poll announced by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America earlier this week.
“I’m very proud of our girls for the way they competed against an outstanding opponent like Texas, and I know we’re all looking forward to kicking off the regular season next weekend,” Lee said. “They came back and had a great practice this morning. It was another step in the right direction for our team as we’re continuing to prepare for the season. I’m very proud of the effort they’ve shown.”
The Tigers enter the 2009 season as the two-time defending SEC Western Division champions with back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances under their belt. In fact, LSU earned its best finish in the final SEC standings a year ago in second place with a 14-4-2 overall record and a 7-3-1 mark in league play.
LSU opens the regular season Aug. 21 as it welcome the two-time defending Conference USA champions from the University of Memphis to the LSU Soccer Complex as the match is slated for a 7 p.m. kickoff.