BATON ROUGE – Just four days after LSU took home a 3-2 win at Kentucky in the team’s regular-season finale on Thursday night, the Tigers and Wildcats are ready for a rematch in the first round of the SEC Women’s Soccer Tournament as they open the event Monday afternoon in a match that is set to kick off at 3:30 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.
LSU is a perfect 2-0 in its two previous matches televised by the SEC Network this season with a 4-3 home win over Georgia on Sept. 17 and a 1-0 away win at Arkansas on Oct. 15 in front of a nationwide audience.
Fans will also be able to watch the Tigers in action on Monday on the SEC Network’s online digital platform at ESPN3.com and using the WatchESPN app available on all smartphones and tablet devices.
Fans unable to view the match can follow the action on social media with live updates from the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Alabama, by following @LSUSoccer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsusoccer and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsusoccer. They can also like LSU Soccer’s Facebook page at http://facebook.com/lsusoccer and join in the team’s live in-game chat.
The Tigers (11-4-4, 5-4-2 SEC) secured the No. 7 seed in this year’s SEC Tournament with their win at the Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington on Thursday, while the Wildcats (9-6-4, 3-5-3) nabbed the final spot into the 10-team tournament field as the No. 10 seed as they prepare for Match No. 1 of the competition this week.
LSU’s four-match unbeaten run to end the regular season moved the team from 11th place on the table after a 2-1 defeat at Florida on Oct. 11 to seventh place in the final standings after Thursday’s victory.
It marks the ninth time in 11 seasons in the tenure of head coach Brian Lee that the Tigers will compete at the SEC Tournament as they make their return to the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Alabama, this week for the first time since 2013. They have enjoyed great success at the SEC Tournament under Lee’s direction while advancing to the semifinals four times, and claiming their first appearance in the SEC Tournament Championship Game back on Nov. 8, 2009. LSU is 4-5-4 in 13 matches played at the SEC Tournament since 2005.
Thursday’s victory handed the Tigers just their second win all-time in Lexington while snapping a three-game winning streak by the Wildcats in the series from 2012-14. While the Tigers are 5-14-2 in their 21 meetings in the all-time series, they own an impressive 5-4-2 mark in 11 regular-season matches against Kentucky since Lee’s inaugural season as head coach in 2005.
The teams will meet in the first round of the SEC Tournament for the third time as Monday’s matchup comes 15 years to the day of Kentucky’s last victory by a 2-0 margin on Nov. 2, 2000. The Wildcats also won the first ever postseason meeting between the two teams by a 4-0 scoreline on Nov. 2, 1995.
The Wildcats finished the regular season winless in their last seven matches with three draws and four defeats as they last picked up a win by a 2-1 margin at home against Arkansas back on Sept. 27.
“Kentucky is an excellent team with a lot of tournament experience on its side, so it should be a great match to get the SEC Tournament off and running this week,” Lee said. “We put ourselves in this position thanks to a strong finish to the regular season, and now we need to bring that same level of fight and determination with us to Orange Beach this week.”
The Tigers feature the reigning SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week as sophomore striker Jorian Baucom was honored on Friday following her two-goal performance in the second half while leading the Tigers to a vital 3-2 win on the road at Kentucky to lock up the No. 7 seed in the SEC Tournament and ensure their return to the postseason this fall.
It was the second time this season that Baucom was honored as the SEC Offensive Player of the Week as she also won the award for the first time on Sept. 14 following her match-winning effort against Duke.
It is also the fourth time this season in which an LSU Tiger has picked up SEC Player of the Week honors as senior midfielder Natalia Gomez-Junco and senior goalkeeper Catalina Rubiano have also been picked this year as the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Week with Gomez-Junco picking up the award on Sept. 21 and Rubiano claiming the honor on Oct. 19 during the league season.
With the Tigers needing a win or a draw at Kentucky to mathematically clinch a return trip to the SEC Tournament, Baucom scored two second-half goals in the 64th and 70th minutes to lead the team to a 3-2 in what was a thrilling end to the regular season. Baucom twice doubled LSU’s lead with her team-leading 14th and 15th goals of the season while making it 2-0 in the 64th minute and 3-1 in the 70th minute in the victory.
Baucom enters the postseason as one of the nation’s leading scorers with 15 goals in her 18 appearances in 2015 to rank No. 2 in the SEC and tied for No. 6 in the NCAA scoring charts on the season. The 15 goals she has scored is already tied for the No. 3 spot on LSU’s all-time single-season scoring list in team history.
Thursday’s win at Kentucky was also highlighted by Gomez-Junco scoring her fourth goal of the season and third free-kick goal on the campaign as she opened the scoring early in the contest in the fifth minute.
The winner of Monday’s first-round match between the Tigers and Wildcats will advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinal round where they will face SEC runner-up and No. 2 seed Missouri in a match that is slated to start at Noon CT on the SEC Network. Their opening match on Monday will be followed by the nightcap between No. 8 seed Vanderbilt and No. 9 seed Georgia at 6 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.