BATON ROUGE — The 14th-ranked LSU soccer team will look to build momentum for the postseason on Sunday when it welcomes the 10th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks to the LSU Soccer Complex for an afternoon tilt scheduled to kick off at 2:07 p.m. CT.
Sunday’s match is scheduled for a live national broadcast on ESPNU as part of the network’s coverage of the SEC. It will also feature a live radio broadcast online at www.totalsportsradio.com.
The Tigers look to remain in the race for the Southeastern Conference championship as they are currently in third place in the overall SEC standings with a 10-4-3 overall record and a 6-2-1 mark with 19 points in league play. South Carolina (15-1-1, 7-1-1 SEC) is the SEC leader with 22 points in conference action.
The series between LSU and South Carolina has gone down to the wire in recent years as the sides played to a draw in each of the last two meetings, including a 0-0 draw in Columbia a season ago.
“We’ll be facing one of the hottest teams in the country tomorrow afternoon in South Carolina and one of the best defensive teams in all of college soccer,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “They are always very organized defensively and do a tremendous job of limiting the number of chances for opponents to score a goal. They will be very difficult for us to break down and put balls on frame.”
The Gamecocks come to Baton Rouge with the top defensive unit in the SEC as they lead the league with a 0.54 goals against average while allowing just five goals in nine conference matches. That includes five shutouts in SEC play. South Carolina is led in the back line by All-SEC defender Blakely Mattern.
Sunday will mark the final appearance for eight Tiger seniors at the LSU Soccer Complex as Nikki Bush, Amanda Carreno, Melissa Clarke, Katherine Lagow, Brittany Lowe, Chelsea Potts, Malorie Rutledge and Rachel Yepez will be honored in brief ceremony prior to kickoff as part of Senior Day festivities.
The Class of 2009 is the most successful senior class in the history of the LSU soccer program as they are the two-time defending SEC West champions and veterans of two NCAA Tournament appearances.
With 45 victories to its credit, LSU’s senior class has won more games than any other in program history as it has broken the previous record of 44 wins earned by the senior class of 2003. Not only that, but their 22 wins in SEC play is also a senior class record. No other senior class has more than 14 wins in the SEC as LSU’s current seniors have posted a 22-10-9 overall record in SEC play since 2006.
After battling the Gamecocks, the Tigers will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday night to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks at 7 p.m. CT at Razorback Field in their regular season finale.