BATON ROUGE — The 17th-ranked LSU soccer team will look to extend its Southeastern Conference unbeaten streak to six games when it travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide on Friday at 7 p.m. in a key SEC West showdown at the Alabama Soccer Complex.
The Tigers (6-2-2, 2-0-0 SEC) earned their first ever sweep on the opening weekend of SEC play as they earned an impressive 6-0 shutout over then No. 8-ranked Georgia on Sept. 25 and a dominating 5-1 defeat of Tennessee on Sunday at the LSU Soccer Complex.
That performance helped catapult the Tigers into the national rankings as they are rated as high as No. 17 in the latest Soccer Times Top 25 poll released on Tuesday.
LSU is now unbeaten in its last five SEC matches that includes a 3-1 victory over Arkansas in the regular-season finale on Oct. 31, 2008, a 2-1 win over Ole Miss in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Nov. 5 and a 1-1 draw with Tennessee on Nov. 7 of last season.
“It was very important for our team to get off to a fast start in SEC play, but the challenge we now face is playing with consistency and maximum effort each and every time we step onto the field,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “Alabama is playing very well right now and will be a confident team tomorrow night. I know they will be prepared and ready to play, and we need to do the same.”
After having its two SEC matches postponed this past weekend, Alabama (5-3-0, 1-0-0 SEC) opened SEC play with a 1-0 shutout of Mississippi State on the road in Starkville on Tuesday night.
In fact, the Crimson Tide enters Friday’s match as winners of three straight, including a 2-1 overtime win over Texas Tech on Sept. 18 and a 1-0 shutout of TCU on Sept. 20.
LSU owns a three-game winning streak of its own over Alabama, including a 7-0 shutout in Baton Rouge on Oct. 12 a year ago. It marked the Tigers’ largest margin of victory in an SEC game in program history and helped propel the squad to a No. 2 overall finish in the final league standings a year ago.
“Alabama is a much improved team this year and is playing with tremendous confidence heading into our match tomorrow night,” Lee said. “It is always a challenge when you go on the road in this league. We’re going on the road for the first time in the SEC, and it’s very important that we play as a team and compete for the full 90 minutes if we hope to get a result. It will definitely be a challenge.”
The Tigers exploded for 11 goals on the opening weekend of SEC play, and senior forward Rachel Yepez was honored as the Soccer America Women’s National Player of the Week and SEC Offensive Player of the Week for her three-goal, two-assist performance in leading LSU’s offensive attack.
Yepez scored the game-winning goal in the seventh minute of play against the Lady Volunteers while she was also credited with the assist on Carlie Banks‘ game-winning goal against the Bulldogs.
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. Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee follow closely behind with three points in conference play. Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt have yet to pick up a point in league play.
After battling the Crimson Tide on Friday night, the Tigers will make the trip to Auburn, Ala., on Sunday to take on Auburn in a 2 p.m. CT kickoff at the Auburn Soccer Complex. Sunday’s match is set for a live nationwide broadcast on ESPNU as part of ESPN’s coverage of the SEC.