BATON ROUGE – The 18th-ranked LSU soccer team will open up a difficult four-game road trip this weekend as it heads to Memphis on Saturday night to take on the 23rd-ranked Memphis Tigers in a match scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. CDT at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.
LSU is ranked No. 18 nationally in this week’s Soccer Times Top 25 poll while Memphis enters the game ranked No. 23 in the latest ranking released by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Saturday’s fixture marks the first of four-straight road games against Top 25 opponents as LSU will go up against the likes of No. 8 Wake Forest, No. 14 BYU and No. 16 Virginia Tech in the coming weeks.
“Going on the road and playing one of the best teams in the country in Memphis will be a great measuring stick of where we are as a team at this stage of the game,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “Memphis is a very talented team with a conference championship and NCAA Tournament pedigree that has a three-year run of finishing in the top 35 of the RPI. It will be a great challenge for our young team.
“But we are very excited about the potential of this group. We got off to a good start in the opener Sunday and we’ve had a great week of practice as we prepare for a big step up in competition.”
The sides met in the 2009 regular season opener at the LSU Soccer Complex with Memphis coming away with a 2-0 win for its first win in the series as LSU holds a 3-1 advantage all-time. The Memphis Tigers enter the 2010 season as the three-time defending Conference USA champions.
Memphis is a perfect 2-0 to start the campaign after defeating Saint Louis, 2-1, and Samford, 3-0, over the season opening weekend, while LSU is 1-0 following its 8-0 shutout of South Alabama on Sunday.
Memphis is led this fall by a pair of Hermann Trophy candidates as senior striker Ashley Berra and senior midfielder Vendula Strnadova were among 45 players nationwide named to the preseason watch list for the 2010 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy. The Hermann Trophy, which is the college soccer equivalent to the Heisman Trophy, is presented each fall to the premier player in women’s college soccer.
“Memphis is a very talented team led by two of the best players in the nation. Defensive organization will be a key in this match and is something that we’ve stressed in practice this week,” Lee said. “This is a big opportunity for our young team to learn what it means to compete at the highest level of college soccer.”
LSU enjoyed an impressive start to its 2010 campaign with a dominating 8-0 shutout of South Alabama at the LSU Soccer Complex on Sunday afternoon in a match featuring six different goal scorers.
Freshman striker Addie Eggleston was brilliant in her collegiate debut as she scored two goals and dished out three assists to lead the attack en route to earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors. Sophomore Carlie Banks also added two goals while junior Natalie Martineau, sophomore Reyna Lubin and freshmen Nina Anderson and Kaley Blades each opened their account with one goal apiece.
In addition, junior goalkeeper and All-SEC hopeful Mo Isom made six saves on the afternoon to guide the defense with her first shutout of the season and her 20th clean sheet as an LSU Tiger.
After facing the 23rd-ranked Memphis Tigers on Saturday, LSU will head back on the road next week as it travels to Winston-Salem, N.C., to take on No. 8-ranked Wake Forest on Sept. 3 and No. 16-ranked Virginia Tech on Sept. 5 in the ACC/SEC Challenge being held at Spry Stadium.