BATON ROUGE – As the LSU soccer team enters the final week of the 2010 regular season, the Tigers head back on the road this weekend as they travel to Columbia, S.C., to battle 15th-ranked South Carolina on Sunday at noon CT at Stone Stadium in a match slated for a nationally-televised broadcast on ESPNU.
Despite suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the 10th-ranked Florida Gators on Thursday night, the Tigers (6-7-4, 3-3-3 SEC) maintained their lead atop the SEC Western Division standings with 12 points. LSU is in the driver’s seat to win its fourth-straight SEC West title after wins in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The Tigers held their ground at the top of the division table after Alabama and Auburn also went down to defeat at home on Thursday night to remain in a tie for second place with 11 points apiece.
South Carolina (13-2-3, 7-1-1) enters Sunday’s match in a dead heat with Florida for the overall SEC title as both the Gamecocks and Gators have earned 22 points in league play. South Carolina has won seven of its last eight games in SEC play as it welcomes LSU to Stone Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
In what has become one of the most tightly contested series in the SEC, LSU boasts a four-game unbeaten streak against South Carolina with a 1-0-3 mark against the Gamecocks since 2007.
“We have a very difficult challenge ahead of us on Sunday afternoon at one of the toughest places to have to play in the conference,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “This has been a very tight series recently and we expect another great match tomorrow afternoon between two of the premier programs in this league. It is a challenge we look forward to as we enter the final week of the regular season.”
After earning a hard-fought 1-0 shutout of the 10th-ranked Gamecocks in their last regular season match in Baton Rouge on Oct. 25 of last year, the sides played to a 1-1 draw in the SEC Tournament final before South Carolina took the tournament title with a dramatic 8-7 decision in penalty kicks.
After battling the Gamecocks on Sunday afternoon, the Tigers will return home next week for their 2010 regular season finale as they play host to SEC Western Division rival Arkansas in a match slated to begin Friday night at 7 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Complex.