BATON ROUGE — After dominating a pair of Southeastern Conference contenders this weekend, the LSU soccer team has catapulted itself into the nation’s top 20 this week as it earned a No. 20 ranking in the latest Soccer America Top 25 poll released Monday morning.
The Tigers (6-2-2, 2-0-0 SEC) picked up their first ever sweep in the opening weekend of SEC play with a decisive 6-0 victory over then No. 8-ranked Georgia on Friday night and an impressive 5-1 win against Tennessee on Sunday afternoon at the LSU Soccer Complex.
LSU’s victory over the Bulldogs on Friday marks its second victory all-time against a team ranked among the top-10 teams in the nation entering the match.
Not only that, but the Tigers’ win over the Lady Volunteers on Sunday is their second win in the series as they also defeated No. 6-ranked Tennessee by a score of 3-0 on Oct. 5, 2007, in front of the largest crowd to see a match at the LSU Soccer Complex with 2,402 fans filling the stadium that night.
The SEC features four teams in the Soccer America Top 25 this week as the Tigers are joined by seventh-ranked South Carolina, No. 15 Florida and No. 21 Georgia.
After the first weekend of SEC play, the Tigers are tied atop the league standings with South Carolina and Florida as each club earned six points with a pair of victories on the weekend. Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee follow closely behind with three points in conference play. Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt have yet to pick up a point in league play.
Soccer America Top 25
Team (Record) Last Week
1. Stanford (10-0-0) 1
2. North Carolina (9-0-1) 2
3. Portland (9-1-0) 4
4. UCLA (8-1-1) 5
5. Florida State (9-1-0) 6
6. Boston College (9-1-0) 3
7. South Carolina (10-0-0) 11
8. Notre Dame (7-3-0) 12
9. Michigan State (7-0-2) 13
10. California (6-2-0) 7
11. Santa Clara (8-3-0) 10
12. St. John’s (8-1-1) 15
13. Rutgers (8-1-2) 20
14. Oregon (7-1-1) 23
15. Florida (8-3-0) 24
16. Ohio State (8-1-1) 25
17. Connecticut (7-3-0) 16
18. Wake Forest (8-2-0) 17
19. Southern California (7-3-0) NR
20. LSU (6-2-2) NR
21. Georgia (7-1-1) 8
22. Maryland (8-2-0) 9
23. Virginia (6-2-2) 14
24. BYU (8-2-1) NR
25. Kansas (8-2-1) 18