BATON ROUGE – Following a thrilling 3-3 draw with the visiting Arkansas Razorbacks on Sunday afternoon, the LSU Tigers will look to get into the win column for the first time in SEC play Friday night when they head back on the road to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs in a match that is set to kick off at 7 p.m. CT at the MSU Soccer Complex in Starkville, Mississippi.
Friday’s match against the Bulldogs will be LSU’s only conference match this season that will not feature on national television on either ESPNU or the SEC Network or via the online SEC Network+ platform.
LSU fans will be able to follow the Tigers in action through social media by following @LSUSoccer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsusoccer and by liking LSU Soccer on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsusoccer.
Friday’s match will be the 20th meeting between the Tigers (4-6-2, 0-2-1 SEC) and Bulldogs (3-7, 0-3) on the soccer pitch as LSU owns a commanding 16-2-1 advantage in the series that dates back to the team’s inaugural season in 1995. The Tigers enter the contest riding a nine-game winning streak and a 12-game unbeaten streak with a 11-0-1 mark against the Bulldogs dating back to the 2002 season.
The Tigers have won their last four and are unbeaten in each of their nine matches played in Starkville with an 8-0-1 mark all-time at the MSU Soccer Complex. Mississippi State scored its last victory in the series with its 2-0 shutout in Baton Rouge on Oct. 7, 2001, as it also seeks its first victory in SEC play for the 2014 season.
The Bulldogs have yet to find the scoresheet in SEC play in 2014 as they have fallen 1-0 at home to Ole Miss on Sept. 19, 3-0 on the road at Kentucky on Sept. 26 and 4-0 on the road at Tennessee on Sunday afternoon.
Leading the Mississippi State attack is central defender turned striker Shannen Jainudeen, who tops the team’s scoring charts with an impressive five goals and one assist for 11 points during her senior season. She has scored three more goals than the next Bulldog on the list as freshman forward Morgan Ferrara has netted twice during her debut season.
The Tigers continue to be led up front by the devastating 1-2 punch of strikers Summer Clarke and Jorian Baucom as they have each scored a team-leading six goals on the campaign. They both found the scoresheet on Sunday afternoon in LSU’s 3-3 home draw with Arkansas as Baucom opened the scoring in the 22nd minute of the first half and Clarke fired home in the 75th minute of the second half against the Razorbacks.
All-SEC left back Megan Lee also found the scoresheet against the Razorbacks with her second goal of the season in the 60th minute of play on a brilliant solo effort to be considered among the goals of the season.
LSU’s 3-3 draw with the Razorbacks saw the side earn its first point of the SEC season while snapping a four-game losing skid against some of the strongest opposition in women’s college soccer with games on the road at No. 25-ranked Duke, Missouri and Marquette and a home tie against No. 6-ranked Texas A&M. The Tigers look to return to the win column for the first time since a 4-3 victory at BYU back on Sept. 11.
After battling the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville on Friday night, the Tigers will face another challenging road test Sunday afternoon when they head to Columbia, South Carolina, to play the No. 20-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks in a match that is scheduled to kick off at 12:05 p.m. CT at Stone Stadium. Sunday’s match will also be featured for online viewing on the SEC Network+ and WatchESPN app.