BATON ROUGE — The 10th-ranked LSU soccer team continues its four-game Southeastern Conference road swing this weekend as it makes the trip to Lexington, Ky., on Friday night to square off against the Kentucky Wildcats in a match slated for a 6 p.m. CT kickoff at the UK Soccer Complex.
The Tigers have cracked the Top 10 of the national rankings for the second time in program history with a No. 10 ranking in this week’s Soccer Times Top 25.
LSU (8-2-2, 4-0-0 SEC) also moved up 10 spots to No. 13 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25 and up five spots to No. 15 in the Soccer America Top 25 released earlier this week. The Tigers are also No. 14 in the first Ratings Percentage Index released this week by the NCAA.
LSU is in the midst of a school record seven-game unbeaten streak in SEC play dating back to last season and is a perfect 4-0 in league play for the first time in program history.
With their performance, the Tigers are alone in first place in the overall SEC standings through two weeks of the conference season as they have secured 12 points in four matches. South Carolina follows closely behind with 10 points, while Georgia is third with nine points and Florida is fourth with seven points.
“Kentucky is a program with a proud tradition in the SEC and is certainly headed in the right direction under Jon Lipsitz,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “He did a great job when he was at Charlotte and I’m sure he will bring back the success that Kentucky has enjoyed in the past. It’s always a difficult test when going on the road in the SEC, and Kentucky presents a great challenge tomorrow night.”
The Wildcats (3-6-3, 0-4-0 SEC) are led by first-year head coach Jon Lipsitz, who led the Charlotte 49ers to three-straight Atlantic 10 Conference championships from 2006-08 prior to his arrival in Lexington.
Kentucky is still in search of its first win in SEC play while opening with perhaps the most difficult slate of any team in the conference. After welcoming the Tigers to Lexington on Friday night, Kentucky would have played four of its first five SEC matches against nationally-ranked opponents.
Each of Kentucky’s four defeats in conference play have been decided by a single goal as the side has lost to No. 10 Florida (2-1), No. 11 South Carolina (1-0), No. 22 Georgia (1-0) and Tennessee (1-0).
“There’s no doubt that Kentucky has faced the most difficult schedule of any team in the SEC through the first two weeks of league play,” Lee said. “They have shown the ability to compete with some of the best teams in the country in recent weeks, and I know we will get a strong challenge tomorrow night. It should be a great game when we open up another big SEC weekend on the road.”
LSU enters Friday’s match with a four-game unbeaten streak against Kentucky that includes a pair of 1-1 draws in Lexington in 2005 and 2007 and a pair of one-goal victories in Baton Rouge in 2006 and 2008. The Wildcats hold an 8-2-2 lead in the all-time series dating back to the 1996 season.
After battling Kentucky on Friday night, the Tigers will make the trip to Nashville, Tenn., on Sunday with a match scheduled against the Vanderbilt Commodores beginning at 1 p.m. CT.