BATON ROUGE — After defeating the Texas Longhorns by a 2-1 margin in last week’s exhibition match and being tabbed the preseason favorite to win its third-straight SEC West crown, the LSU soccer team is ranked No. 25 in the preseason national ranking released by Soccer Times on Thursday morning.
This marks the first time in program history that the Tigers will carry a national ranking into the season as they will also compete for their third-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
LSU has proven to be a program on the rise in recent years and is looking to build upon a 2008 season in which it posted a 14-4-2 overall record and a school record 7-3-1 mark and 22 points in SEC play en route to a program best No. 2 finish in the final conference standings.
And if their preseason exhibition win over Texas on Aug. 14 is any indication, the Tigers are poised for a title run yet again this fall as the Longhorns are ranked in two preseason polls entering the regular season. Texas is ranked No. 15 in the preseason ranking released by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America last week and No. 16 in the preseason ranking released by Soccer Times on Thursday.
LSU has been a staple in the national rankings during the last two seasons while climbing as high as No. 9 in the Soccer America Top 25 poll released on Sept. 22, 2008. The Tigers have been nationally ranked as high as No. 17 by Soccer Times in the organization’s poll released on Sept. 16 and Sept. 23 of last season.
The Tigers will kick off the 2009 regular season on Friday night as they welcome the two-time defending Conference USA champion Memphis Tigers to the LSU Soccer Complex for a 7 p.m. opening kick.
SOCCER TIMES PRESEASON TOP 25
Team (2008 Record) Points
1. North Carolina (25-1-2) 400
2. Stanford (22-2-1) 367
3. UCLA (22-1-2) 363
4. Notre Dame (26-1-0) 355
5. Portland (20-2-0) 341
6. Florida State (17-3-3) 315
7. Texas A&M (18-5-1) 306
8. Virginia (15-5-3) 253
9. Southern California (16-5-2) 250
10. Florida (19-4-1) 246
11. Duke (15-6-3) 221
12. Boston College (15-6-2) 217
13. Oklahoma State (18-1-4) 160
14. West Virginia (14-3-6) 151
15. Penn State (16-8-0) 150
T16. Missouri (16-5-2) 136
T16. Texas (13-4-4) 136
18. Minnesota (22-4-0) 93
19. San Diego (15-5-2) 92
20. BYU (18-5-1) 86
T21. Rutgers (13-7-2) 77
T21. Illinois (12-9-2) 77
23. California (10-8-1) 60
24. Colorado (14-5-4) 41
25. LSU (14-4-2) 39