LSU Gold

Soccer Wraps Up Road Trip Against USC

by Will Stafford (@WillStaffordLSU)
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Soccer Wraps Up Road Trip Against USC

MINNEAPOLIS – The LSU Soccer team will wrap up its first road trip of the 2013 season on Sunday when the Tigers return to Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium at 11 a.m. CT to face 13th-ranked Southern California for the first time in program history in the third of four matches at the Minnesota Gold Classic hosted by the University of Minnesota.

The Tigers (2-2-1) opened the Minnesota Gold Classic on Friday night with a narrow 2-1 setback to homestanding Minnesota in their first ever meeting with the Golden Gophers.

The Trojans (3-0-1) remained unbeaten on the season after playing Ole Miss to a 1-1 draw in the tournament’s opening match on Friday afternoon before the Tigers and Golden Gophers met in the nightcap.

The Trojans enter the match as a consensus Top 25 team nationally this week while climbing as high as No. 13 in the national rankings in the latest Soccer America Top 25. USC also features a No. 17 national ranking with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25 poll, a No. 19 national ranking in the Soccer Times Top 25 poll and a No. 23 national ranking in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Top25 poll.

Sunday’s match marks just the fifth time in program history that the Tigers have faced an opponent from the Pac-12 Conference, including a 1-0 shutout of the Oregon Ducks in their last Pac-12 meeting during the 2011 non-conference season. LSU is looking to improve upon their 1-3 mark all-time against one of the nation’s most powerful conferences for women’s soccer.

The Trojans are historically one of the premier programs in all of women’s college soccer, highlighted by winning the national championship in 2007 in their first season under head coach Ali Khosroshahin.

USC features a talented roster once again this fall, which includes the nation’s No. 4-ranked recruiting class for the Class of 2013 by the editors of AllWhiteKit.com. Five Trojans have combined to score 13 goals this year, led by four goals from senior striker Elizabeth Eddy and three goals apiece from freshman midfielder Kayla Mills and freshman striker Tanya Samarzich.

After wrapping up the Minnesota Gold Classic with a match against the Trojans on Sunday, the Tigers will finish off their non-conference season next weekend with a road trip through the state of Texas as they square off against Stephen F. Austin on Friday at 7 p.m. CT in Nacogdoches and Rice on Sept. 15 at 1 p.m. in Houston. LSU opens up Southeastern Conference season in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday, Sept. 21, with a game with the Vanderbilt Commodores that is set to kick off at 7 p.m. at the VU Soccer Complex.