BATON ROUGE – After picking up a big three points with a 1-0 road win at Arkansas last Thursday night, the LSU Tigers will continue their push for Southeastern Conference Tournament qualification on Friday when they welcome the Mississippi State Bulldogs to town for a match that is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
Fans are reminded they can “Geaux Free!” to each of LSU’s two remaining home matches this weekend as admission is free at the LSU Soccer Stadium again this season, compliments of The Advocate.
Fans who are unable to attend the match can follow all the action through social media as they can receive live updates for LSU and Mississippi State by following @LSUSoccer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsusoccer and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsusoccer and also by liking the LSU Soccer team page on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsusoccer.
The Tigers are rolling out their final promotions of the 2015 season as the first 750 fans through the gates at the LSU Soccer Stadium on Friday will receive a free LSU Soccer team drawstring bag.
A vital three points will be on the line when the Tigers (9-4-3, 3-4-1 SEC) and Bulldogs (4-8-3, 2-4-2) square off on Friday night as LSU enters the match just one spot above Mississippi State on the league table with only three regular-season matches to play. The Tigers are in 10th place on 10 points, while the Bulldogs follow in 11th place on eight points as they battle one another for SEC Tournament qualification.
Friday’s match will be the 21st meeting between the two teams on the soccer pitch as the Tigers own a commanding 17-2-1 advantage in the series that dates back to the team’s inaugural season in 1995. LSU is riding an impressive 10-game winning streak since 2005 and 13-game unbeaten streak since 2002 against Mississippi State with a 12-0-1 mark in the series during that span.
LSU has won its last six meetings with Mississippi State in Baton Rouge and is 8-2 all-time at the LSU Soccer Stadium. Mississippi State scored its last victory in the series with a 2-0 win in Baton Rouge on Oct. 7, 2001.
With eight points in the bag going into their last three regular-season matches, the Bulldogs are in the midst of their best SEC campaign in five seasons when they earned 10 points with a 3-7-1 record in league play. The Bulldogs are also on their highest SEC point total in 11 years when they posted their best point total of 16 points with a 5-5-1 SEC record back in 2004.
Leading the Mississippi State attack this season has been freshman midfielder Kiley Martens as she boasts a team-leading four goals and nine points on her debut season in Starkville this fall. Freshmen forwards Lauryn Bruffett and Kennadi Carbin follow Martens with three goals and seven points apiece, while sophomore striker Mallory Eubanks has added seven points with two goals and three assists of her own in 2015.
The Tigers feature the reigning SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week as senior goalkeeper Catalina Rubiano saved all six shots on target she faced while keeping her fifth clean sheet of the season in LSU’s 1-0 victory at Arkansas last Friday night. She even turned in a highlight reel save diving high and to her right in the first half that featured on ESPN SportsCenter’s “Top Plays” segment as the No. 8 play of the day.
Sophomore striker Jorian Baucom also snapped her four-match goalless drought in the win with her team-leading 12th goal of the campaign to rank No. 2 in the SEC and No. 8 in the NCAA scoring charts this fall.
After playing host to the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Friday night, the Tigers return to action on Sunday afternoon when they welcome the 17th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks to Baton Rouge for a matinee to start at 1 p.m. CT. They then end their regular season in Lexington, Kentucky, on Thursday, Oct. 29, with a match against Kentucky that will kick off at 5:30 p.m. CT on the SEC Network+.