BATON ROUGE – The Tigers are excited to host their first Sunday Funday event of the season when they take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 1 p.m. CT in the finale of this year’s Battle on the Bayou as fans can pick up their Sunday passes to receive a free LSU Soccer scarf later in the season when arriving at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
Fans who attend all five Sunday Funday matches at the LSU Soccer Stadium this fall will receive a free limited edition LSU Soccer team scarf they can wear to show their support for the program with each match day. In addition, the first 500 fans attending Sunday’s match against Minnesota will receive a free color changing cup and serving of Kona Ice.
Fans can “Geaux Free!” to each of LSU’s 11 remaining home matches during the 2015 regular season as admission is free at the LSU Soccer Stadium once again this season, compliments of The Advocate.
The Tigers (2-0-1) and Golden Gophers (2-0-1) are scheduled to kick off their match at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday afternoon only after Stephen F. Austin and Western Kentucky square off at 11 a.m. CT for the final day of this year’s Battle on the Bayou at the LSU Soccer Stadium. Minnesota edged Stephen F. Austin by a 1-0 margin in the opening match of the tournament on Friday afternoon.
The Tigers continued their unbeaten run to start the 2015 season with a decisive 4-1 win over Western Kentucky on Friday night while scoring all four goals inside of the opening 30 minutes of the second half. LSU owns a three-match unbeaten run to start its season for the second time in three years as the Tigers also opened up the 2013 campaign with a matching 2-0-1 mark.
Sunday’s match marks the second meeting all-time between LSU and Minnesota on the soccer field as the Golden Gophers picked up a narrow 2-1 win over the Tigers at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium in Minneapolis at the Minnesota Gold Classic on Sept. 6, 2013. That’s where the Tigers followed their defeat to Minnesota with a thrilling 1-0 win over the 13th-ranked USC Trojans on the final day of their trip to Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers are also off to an unbeaten 2-0-1 run to start the 2015 season as they also followed a 3-0 home win over North Dakota State on Aug. 21 with a 0-0 draw with No. 23-ranked Kansas last Sunday.
“We had a great opening night here at the Battle on the Bayou last night with a big crowd that really showed support for the team,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We’re looking forward to another great match day to end it with our first Sunday Funday of the season, so fans should come out and show their support and enjoy some high-level college soccer between two BCS programs.”
Four different Tigers found the scoresheet in the second half of Friday’s 4-1 win over Western Kentucky as freshman Gabriela Maldonado leveled the match in the 47th minute and sophomore Debbie Hahn found their winner in the 58th minute as each scored their first career goals in the purple and gold. Sophomore striker Jorian Baucom and senior midfielder Fernanda Pina also found the net in the second half.
Baucom is now the team’s leading goal scorer in the early stages of the 2015 season as she has netted twice in three games, while six different Tigers have scored the team’s seven goals heading into Sunday.
Senior midfielder Natalia Gomez-Junco also enjoyed a record-setting performance in driving the Tigers forward on Friday night as she matched the team’s single-game record with three assists on the night. She tied an LSU single-game record as the 10th Tiger in team history to record three assists in a game and the first in nearly two years.
After wrapping up this year’s Battle on the Bayou event with their match against Minnesota on Sunday afternoon, the Tigers will return to action next weekend when they play host to the Stomp in the Swamp for two days with matches scheduled against Ball State on Friday, Sept. 4, at 7:30 p.m. CT and Indiana on Sunday, Sept. 6, at 1 p.m. Like the Battle on the Bayou this weekend, the Stomp in the Swamp will feature four teams at the LSU Soccer Stadium as Middle Tennessee State also makes the trip to Baton Rouge next weekend.