BATON ROUGE – Members of the LSU soccer team have already begun their preparation for the 2010 season while participating in the club’s off-season strength and conditioning program, and the Tigers step up their preparation later this month as they kick off their spring exhibition schedule.
LSU head coach Brian Lee announced the team’s spring schedule on Sunday afternoon as the Tigers take on a pair of national powers and a trio of in-state clubs over the next two months.
The Tigers kick off their spring exhibition schedule with a pair of home matches against the Northwestern State Demons on March 24 and Nicholls State Colonels on March 30 at the LSU Soccer Complex. LSU will then travel to Orange Beach, Ala., to square off against SEC Western Division rival Auburn on April 17 before returning home to take on McNeese State on April 22. The Tigers wrap up the spring season on April 25 as they battle the Texas Longhorns at Meyer Park in Houston, Texas.
LSU is the three-time defending SEC Western Division champion after winning its third-straight division crown in 2009 with a 15-4-5 overall record and a school record 8-2-1 mark with 25 points in league play. The team also finished runner-up in the final SEC team standings for the second year in a row en route to a third-straight at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.
In fact, the Tigers played host to the NCAA First and Second Rounds at the LSU Soccer Complex for the first time in team history while earning a No. 4 national seed.
“We’re excited about the tremendous steps that this program has made to join the nation’s elite, and we’ll continue to work toward that this spring with a challenging exhibition schedule,” Lee said. “We also work to improve each day with the outstanding strength and conditioning program we have in place. That is one big reason we have enjoyed this level of success to this point.
“We have pushed our spring schedule back this year due to some off-season injuries, but we are gradually returning to full strength. This will be an important spring for many of our younger players to develop and earn playing time next fall. We look forward to taking those steps each day.”