BATON ROUGE – After opening the Southeastern Conference season with a perfect 4-0 mark at the LSU Soccer Stadium, the 14th-ranked Tigers go on the road in SEC play for the first time this weekend on Friday night as they battle the Vanderbilt Commodores at the Vanderbilt Soccer Complex at 7 p.m. CDT.
Vanderbilt will provide a live video stream of Friday’s match with an all-access subscription to its official athletics website that can be purchased at www.vucommodores.com.
Fans can receive live updates and behind-the-scenes coverage of Friday’s fixture by liking LSU Soccer on Facebook and following @LSUSoccer on Twitter. Also, fans are welcome to join in with the live in-game commentary throughout the match as part of LSU Soccer’s Facebook chat.
The SEC-leading Tigers (9-3-1, 4-0 SEC) enter Friday’s fixture at the top of the league table as the SEC’s only team to secure 12 points from the first four games in conference play over the last two weekends.
Auburn and Florida follow LSU in a tie for second place on the league table with matching 3-1 marks and nine points in conference play. Five other programs trail the Tigers in a tie for fourth place with six points apiece as Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee are each 2-2 in SEC play.
LSU has parlayed its six-game winning streak and nine-game unbeaten streak over the last four weekends into the national rankings this week as the squad is ranked as high as No. 14 nationally in the latest Soccer America Top 25 released Tuesday morning. The Tigers are also ranked No. 25 in the country this week in both the NSCAA/Continental Tire Top 25 and Soccer Times Top 25 published Tuesday.
The Tigers, who are also ranked No. 18 in the country in the NCAA’s latest Ratings Percentage Index, are now 8-0-1 in their last nine matches since a 2-1 road win at Houston on Sept. 6.
While LSU has won four of its last five meetings with Vanderbilt (6-6, 0-4) as the sides prepare to take on one another on Friday night, the Tigers hope to avenge a 1-0 defeat to the Commodores a year ago in their match played at the LSU Soccer Stadium in Baton Rouge. While the Tigers are 5-8-2 in the all-time series against Vanderbilt, they boast a 4-2-1 mark in the series under seventh-year head coach Brian Lee.
The Tigers have exploded in the attack with the start of league play while scoring 12 of their 23 goals this season in the last four matches for an average of 3.0 goals per game in conference action. That includes at least two goals in each league match en route to a perfect 4-0 start during SEC play.
In fact, the Tigers are ranked No. 1 among SEC teams in conference scoring this fall as their 12 goals and 3.0 goals per game average in the league sit atop the SEC’s scoring charts. They also boast one of the elite defensive units while allowing just four goals in four matches to tie for the lowest total in the league.
Senior Taryne Boudreau has led the charge as the SEC’s leading scorer in conference play as she has been named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week in each of the first two weeks of the SEC season.
Boudreau has scored the game-winning goal for the Tigers in three of four SEC contests this season and is the league’s leading scorer in conference play with five goals and 12 points over the last two weeks. She’s now set new career-highs by scoring eight goals and 20 points on the campaign.
Fellow senior and Canadian international Natalie Martineau has also been impressive with her form going forward in recent weeks as she owns an impressive streak of seven-straight matches in which she has served up at least one assist. Martineau, who only recorded one assist during her junior season a year ago, has shattered her career-high with a team-leading eight assists in 2011.
After battling the Vanderbilt Commodores on Friday night, the Tigers head to Lexington, Ky., on Sunday afternoon to take on the Kentucky Wildcats in a match that is set to kick off at noon CDT at the Kentucky Soccer Complex. The Wildcats own an impressive resume as the No. 10-ranked team in the country in the NCAA’s RPI with a 9-3 overall record and 2-2 mark in conference action.