BATON ROUGE — With the non-conference season now in the rearview mirror, the LSU soccer team will kick off Southeastern Conference play this week as it returns to the LSU Soccer Complex to host the No. 8-ranked Georgia Bulldogs on Friday in a match scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
The Tigers enter the weekend with a 4-2-2 record on the season, while the Bulldogs are unbeaten at 7-0-1 in eight matches on the 2009 campaign.
Georgia is ranked as high as No. 8 nationally in the latest Soccer America Top 25 released Monday, while the side is also No. 15 in this week’s Soccer Times Top 25 poll and No. 16 in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25 released Tuesday.
While the Tigers are just 3-6-1 all-time against the Bulldogs, they are 2-1-1 in four previous meetings led by head coach Brian Lee. That includes a current two-game unbeaten streak and a 2-1 victory in Athens a year ago en route to finishing No. 2 overall in the final SEC standings.
LSU returns to the pitch after playing ACC power Duke to a 2-2 draw in Durham, N.C., on Sunday, while it also fell to No. 1-ranked North Carolina on Friday in the first match of the Duke Nike Classic.
“All of the hard work that we’ve put in as a team throughout the offseason and the non-conference season has been to prepare us for SEC play. It all starts for us this weekend,” Lee said. “We are excited about the opportunity to compete against a top-10 team like Georgia and for our fans to enjoy college soccer played at the highest level. We have a great challenge ahead of us tomorrow night.”
The Tigers enter Friday’s match as the two-time defending SEC Western Division champions after taking their second-straight title a year ago with a school record 7-3-1 mark and 22 points in conference play en route to their highest finish in the final SEC standings at No. 2 overall.
The Tigers will host Gold Night and Kids Night as part of the Georgia match Friday as the first 400 fans in attendance will receive a free gold “Super Tiger Fan” t-shirt and the first 200 kids will receive an LSU Soccer yo-yo. An inflatable will also be available for the kids throughout the match.
As part of Kids Night, comic book hero Spiderman is scheduled to be in attendance and will be available for pictures with fans from 5:30-7:30 p.m., courtesy of Team LSU Partner Verizon Wireless.
In addition, LSU has partnered with the 11 other SEC institutions for the third-annual Together We CAN Food Drive. The Tigers will collect food and other financial donations at both matches this weekend to benefit the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank. The annual food drive is scheduled to run through Sunday as all fans attending this weekend’s games are encouraged to participate.
Fans who are unable to attend Friday night’s match against Georgia can listen to a live radio broadcast by logging on to www.totalsportsradio.com as Jason Kelly will provide the play-by-play.
After battling the Bulldogs on Friday, will play host to Tennessee on Sunday in a match scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff at the LSU Soccer Complex. The Lady Volunteers enter Friday’s SEC opener with Arkansas with a 4-3-1 overall record on the 2009 season.