BATON ROUGE – Following their season-opening 2-1 win at Oregon on Aug. 21 and a 1-1 draw in their home opener against Northwestern State on Tuesday, the Tigers will look to get back in the win column on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. CT when they play host to Western Kentucky to kick off this year’s “Battle on the Bayou” at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
Fans will be treated to two matches in Friday’s tournament opener as the nightcap between LSU and Western Kentucky will be preceded by Minnesota and Stephen F. Austin kicking off at 5 p.m. CT.
Fans are reminded they can “Geaux Free!” to each of the team’s 11 remaining home matches during the 2015 regular season as admission is free, courtesy of The Advocate. The first 500 fans attending Friday’s game at the “Battle on the Bayou” will receive a free LSU Soccer car magnet to show their support when driving around town.
Anyone who is unable to attend the game are invited to follow the action on social media as they can receive live updates of the match between the Tigers (1-0-1) and Lady Toppers (1-1) with following @LSUSoccer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsusoccer and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsusoccer and by liking the LSU Soccer page on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsusoccer.
Friday’s match marks the first ever meeting on the soccer pitch between LSU and Western Kentucky as they will kick it off following the opening match on the weekend between Minnesota and Stephen F. Austin. The Lady Toppers have split each of their first two matches of the 2015 season with a 3-1 win over Tennessee-Martin in their season opener on Aug. 21 and a 4-0 home defeat to Miami (Ohio) last Sunday.
“This is an event that we’re very excited to host with three great programs coming in for an exciting weekend of college soccer,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We’ve had some really great weather all week, which is giving us a great week of preparation ahead of tomorrow night. We’re expecting more of the same over the weekend, so fans should take advantage and come out to watch some high-level college soccer.”
Fans turning out to the LSU Soccer Stadium for Tuesday’s home opener saw freshman Alex Thomas score her first collegiate goal for the Tigers in the 52nd minute of LSU’s 1-1 draw with Northwestern State as she looks to be acclimating well to the college game. Thomas signed with the Tigers as a two-time Louisiana Gatorade Girls Soccer Player of the Year at Ben Franklin High School in New Orleans.
Star strikers Summer Clarke and Jorian Baucom have also opened their accounts to start the 2015 season after leading the Tigers to a 2-1 season-opening victory at Oregon on Opening Night nearly a week ago.
The Tigers are looking to get back in the win column on Friday night while remaining unbeaten in their first three matches to start a season for the second time in three years as they also kicked off the 2013 campaign at 2-0-1. LSU’s longest unbeaten run to start a season stands at eight matches when winning six and drawing two of the first eight matches to open the 2007 season. The Tigers followed in 2008 by winning seven games in a row for their longest winning streak to open up a new season.
After playing host to Western Kentucky in the nightcap of Friday’s opener at the “Battle on the Bayou,” the Tigers will wrap up the tournament with a Sunday matinee against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a match that is set to kick off at 1 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Stadium. Sunday’s tournament finale will also feature an 11 a.m. kickoff between Stephen F. Austin and Western Kentucky.