BATON ROUGE – In the wake of a 2-1 defeat at Tennessee on Friday night, the LSU Tigers will fight for postseason positioning on Sunday afternoon when they make the trip to Athens, Georgia to take on the 16th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in a match that will kick off at 2:05 p.m. CDT at the Turner Soccer Complex in a nationally-televised broadcast on ESPNU.
Sunday’s match marks LSU’s debut on ESPNU this season as fans can watch the Tigers (5-9-2, 1-5-1 SEC) and Bulldogs (9-3-1, 4-2-1) in action in a national television broadcast with coverage beginning at 2 p.m. CDT. The match will also be available for viewing online on the SEC Digital Network at http://espn3.com/ and using the WatchESPN app.
Fans who are unable to watch the match are invited to follow the action through LSU’s social media as they can receive live updates from the ground by following @LSUSoccer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsusoccer and by liking LSU Soccer’s official Facebook page at http://facebook.com/lsusoccer. They are also invited to join in the team’s live in-game chat on Facebook during each match this season.
Georgia enters the contest ranked as high as No. 16 nationally in this week’s Soccer America Top 25 poll released on Tuesday, while the Bulldogs also boast a No. 17 national ranking in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America/Continental Tire Division I Top 25 poll and a No. 21 national ranking in the current TopDrawerSoccer.com Top 25 poll also released this week.
The Tigers and Bulldogs will meet for the 10th time in the Brian Lee era as LSU owns a 4-3-2 mark in nine previous meetings between the two sides since his arrival in 2005 and a 5-8-2 mark in the all-time series.
This marks the fourth time in Lee’s tenure that the Bulldogs are nationally-ranked entering the fixture as the Tigers are 1-1-1 in those matches, including a thumping 6-0 shutout of No. 8-ranked Georgia to start the SEC season in 2009. They also tied the 18th-ranked Bulldogs, 1-1, in Baton Rouge in 2007 before falling to the 17th-ranked Bulldogs, 1-0, in Athens in 2010.
Georgia emerged as 2-1 winners in the last meeting between the sides in Baton Rouge on Oct. 25 of last season, while they played to a 2-2 draw in their last contest at the Turner Soccer Complex on Sept. 30, 2012.
Both sides are looking to bounce back from defeats on Friday night when the Tigers suffered a 2-1 setback at Tennessee in Knoxville while dropping their third-straight SEC match while the Bulldogs were held scoreless on their home turf in a 2-0 defeat to visiting Missouri at the Turner Soccer Complex.
The Bulldogs are led by a pair of sophomore All-SEC candidates in midfielder Gabby Seiler and striker Marion Crowder as Seiler is the team’s leading scorer with eight goals followed by Crowder with six goals in 2014.
After squaring off against the 16th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in Athens on Sunday afternoon, the Tigers will return home next weekend to open up a three-game homestand to end the regular season as they will line up across from the Kentucky Wildcats on Friday, Oct. 24, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Stadium in a match that will be featured on the SEC Network+.