BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers officially make their return to the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Tournament on Saturday night when they travel to Mobile, Alabama, to face the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament champion South Alabama Jaguars in a first-round match that is set to kick off at The Cage at 7 p.m. CT.
Tickets are $7 for adults, $3 for seniors and $2 for children up to 12 years of age as LSU fans in Mobile and along the Gulf Coast are invited to join the team at The Cage and cheer on their Tigers in their opening match of the tournament. Information is also available online at www.usajaguars.com and by calling South Alabama at 251-461-1872.
Fans who are unable to attend the match can receive live updates from The Cage by following @LSUSoccer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsusoccer and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsusoccer and by liking LSU Soccer on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsusoccer.
This marks LSU’s fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history, all coming under the direction of head coach Brian Lee, after also appearing in NCAA postseason play in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011.
The Tigers (13-5-4) were awarded an at-large berth into this year’s NCAA Tournament by the selection committee on Monday following their run to the SEC Tournament semifinals a week ago. They were unbeaten for six-straight matches before their semifinal defeat to Texas A&M last Friday while posting a 5-1-1 mark in their last seven matches heading into postseason play.
Good luck to #CanMNT tonight vs Honduras and @LSUSoccer in NCAA opener!! Fill BC Place!!
— Allysha Chapman (@allyshachapman) November 13, 2015
The Tigers left the SEC Tournament in Orange Beach ranked No. 40 in the final Ratings Percentage Index released by the NCAA following Monday’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show while boasting a resume with wins over No. 13 Duke and No. 39 Minnesota, a draw with No. 26 South Carolina and a record of 7-4-3 against the RPI Top 80 to earn an NCAA bid.
LSU is looking to advance to the Round of 32 for the third time in five trips to the NCAA Tournament after last appearing in the second round in 2009 when the Tigers played host to the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional with a program best No. 4 national seed. After smashing Arkansas-Pine Bluff by a 7-0 scoreline in the first round, they played Texas A&M to a 1-1 draw in the second round before falling 4-2 on penalties.
The Tigers also advanced to the NCAA Second Round in their inaugural appearance in 2007 as they followed a 1-0 extra time win over Samford in the first round with a defeat to Florida State in the Round of 32. LSU also suffered a pair of first-round defeats against Washington in 2008 and Texas A&M in 2011 in matches played in College Station.
While LSU and South Alabama have met nine times in their history, Saturday’s NCAA match will be the first between the two sides in five years since the Tigers opened their 2010 with an 8-0 win in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers take a 5-4 overall edge and a three-game winning streak in the series to Mobile this weekend as they also picked up a 3-0 away win at The Cage in 2006 and a 2-0 home win in Baton Rouge in 2008 in their run. The Jaguars last picked up a win in the series in 2001 with a 2-1 victory on their home field.
While South Alabama (17-2-2) claimed automatic qualification into the NCAA Tournament field following a 4-0 win over Georgia State in Sunday’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship Game, the Jaguars had one of the best regular seasons in college soccer while romping to the SBC regular-season title with a perfect 9-0 record in league play while finishing No. 16 in the NCAA’s RPI rankings.
The Jaguars are now 50-11-6 in three seasons under head coach Graham Winkworth while winning back-to-back SBC regular-season championships and three-straight SBC Tournament titles since 2013. This marks their third-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament as they make history this weekend as the first Sun Belt program to host an NCAA Tournament match.
South Alabama takes a 14-game unbeaten streak into the opening weekend as it is led by a potent attack that ranks No. 4 nationally with 2.71 goals per game, including 22 goals scored in its last five matches.
Twelve different Jaguars have accounted for the team’s 57 goals this season, led by sophomore striker Charde Hannah with a team-best 10 goals and 25 points on the campaign. Fellow sophomore Ashlynn Jones is just behind with nine goals and 24 points on the year, while sophomore midfielder Danielle Henley has netted eight goals and twin sisters Rio and Steffi Hardy are tied on six goals apiece this fall.
A potential trip to Tallahassee, Florida, next weekend awaits the winner of Saturday’s first-round match between LSU and South Alabama as either side might face defending NCAA Champion and No. 1 overall national seed Florida State as the Seminoles (14-2-4) play host to Evansville (6-10-3) in their opening match at the Seminole Soccer Complex on Friday night.