BATON ROUGE – In the wake of Monday’s season-opening victory at Oklahoma, members of the LSU Soccer program are excited to open up a historic 10-game homestand on Friday night as they welcome the Rice Owls to Baton Rouge with kickoff set for 7 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
Sophomore midfielder Alex Arlitt provided the heroics with the game-winning goal in the 108th minute as the Tigers brought home a 1-0 double overtime victory over the Sooners to open the 2012 season.
Fans have the opportunity to “Geaux Free!” to Friday’s 2012 home opener as admission will be free in the regular season for each of LSU’s 13 home matches, compliments of The Advocate. Gates will open to the public one hour prior to kickoff at 6 p.m. for what is sure to be an overflow crowd.
Fans who are unable to attend the match are reminded that live streaming video of the contest is slated for a 6:55 p.m. start for those with a subscription to the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net/live.
Live updates and exclusive coverage of the match between the Tigers and Owls is also available by liking LSU Soccer on Facebook and following @LSUSoccer on Twitter. In addition, fans are welcome to join in the live in-game commentary throughout the match as part of LSU Soccer’s online Facebook chat.
The Tigers are 14-3 in home openers all-time and winners of 13 of their last 14 dating back to 1998. They will look to turn the tables on the Owls after falling 1-0 in double overtime in the first ever meeting on the soccer pitch between the sides in Houston a year ago. Rice is looking to rebound from a 1-0 defeat against the Baylor Bears on its home field to open the 2012 season last Friday night.
“We’re always excited to start a new season, but our athletes are probably even more excited the first time they get a chance to step on our home field and perform in front of the best fans in the country,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “It’s always fun for us to play under the lights on a Friday night.”
This marks the first time in program history that the Tigers will play 10-straight games within the friendly confines of the LSU Soccer Stadium as their longest homestand to date was eight-straight matches a year ago. They also played six-straight matches at the former LSU Soccer Complex to wrap up the 1998 regular season.
The Tigers are nearly unbeatable when playing on their home field as they own a sparkling 33-5-7 overall record for a .811 winning percentage at the LSU Soccer Stadium in the past five seasons.
An overflow crowd is expected for Friday’s 2012 home opener as it is a Student Point Match and features a Bengal Bound BBQ as all students attending the match will receive free hot dogs, hamburgers and chips thanks to VooDoo BBQ. The first 500 fans will also receive a free “The Beautiful Game” t-shirt.
After playing host to the Owls on Friday night, the Tigers will continue their homestand on Sunday with a match against the NC State Wolfpack that is set to kick off at 1:07 p.m. CT. LSU will make its first of a program record seven live television appearances this season when NC State comes to town as Cox Sports Television is set to broadcast the match to a regional audience across the Southeast.