ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – After coming from behind to beat No. 10-seeded Kentucky by a 2-1 margin in Monday’s opening round, the No. 7-seeded LSU Tigers now prepares for their first quarterfinal match at the SEC Tournament in five years on Wednesday against No. 2-seeded Missouri in a match that is set to kick off at Noon CT on the SEC Network.
While also available on the SEC Network, the match will also feature on the network’s online digital platform at ESPN3.com and through 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 (12-4-4) are riding a five-game unbeaten streak into Wednesday’s quarterfinal clash with SEC runner-up Missouri (9-4-5) as they are now 4-0-1 dating back to a 1-0 road win at Arkansas back on Oct. 15.
LSU’s is a streak that also includes back-to-back wins over Kentucky as the Tigers followed a 3-2 win against the Wildcats at the Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington in their regular-season finale last Thursday night with the team’s 2-1 comeback win in the first round of the SEC Tournament at the Orange Beach Sportsplex on Monday afternoon.
Monday’s victory handed LSU its first trip to the SEC Tournament quarterfinals since the 2010 season while also snapping a three-game losing streak in the first round of the league’s postseason competition.
A look at the live #SEC bracket as the Tigers are into the quarterfinals! Graphic assist from @LSUQuinlanDuhon! pic.twitter.com/zTVOZp4IxU
— LSU Soccer (@LSUSoccer) November 2, 2015
Missouri claimed the No. 2 seed in the tournament as the runner-up on the SEC table this season while posting a 7-2-2 mark for 23 points in league play in 2015, but LSU delivered one of those two defeats with a clutch 2-1 win in Baton Rouge on the night of Oct. 9. Wednesday’s quarterfinal match marks the first ever postseason meeting between the two sides as LSU owns a 3-1 advantage in four regular-season matches all-time.
Leading Missouri to its highest league finish in four seasons competing in the Southeastern Conference is the 2015 SEC Coach of the Year Bryan Blitz, who received the award in the league’s announcement of its award winners on Sunday afternoon. Three Missouri Tigers were also rewarded with All-SEC honors as defender Candace Johnson (first-team) and midfielders Melanie Donaldson (second-team) and Reagan Russell (second-team) were voted by the SEC’s head coaches among the top players in the conference for 2015.
Russell joins sophomore midfielder Savannah Trujillo as Missouri’s two leading goal scorers this season with four goals apiece, while senior midfielder Lauren Flynn, junior striker Jessica Herrman, sophomore midfielder Jessica Johnson follow with three goals each in the team’s 18 matches this fall. The Tigers from Columbia have been stout defensively all season with a 0.78 goals against average on the year.
LSU is led by a trio of All-SEC performers of its own in First-Team All-SEC sophomore Jorian Baucom, Second-Team All-SEC junior Summer Clarke and All-Freshman Team member Alex Thomas in the 2015 season.
Baucom entered the postseason as one of the nation’s leading scorers as her team-leading and career-high 15 goals ranked No. 2 in the SEC and tied for No. 6 in the NCAA scoring charts prior to Monday’s match versus Kentucky at the SEC Tournament. She became just the seventh LSU Tiger in program history to earn First-Team All-SEC honors with Sunday’s announcement.
Clarke, the team’s second-leading scorer with seven goals and 18 points in her 16 appearances on the season, made her return to the lineup from injury in Monday’s first-round win as she played 74 minutes during the match to help send the Tigers into the SEC quarterfinals. Clarke had missed the previous four matches while recovering from an ankle injury suffered at Florida in a match played back on Oct. 11.
Senior midfielder Natalia Gomez-Junco and freshman forward Gabriela Maldonado led the Tigers to their comeback victory on Monday with goals in the 47th and 54th minutes to extend LSU’s stay in Orange Beach.
The Tigers are competing at the SEC Tournament for the ninth time in 11 seasons in the tenure of head coach Brian Lee as they own a 5-5-4 mark in 14 matches played in Orange Beach during that time. They are looking for their fifth trip to the SEC Tournament semifinals after appearing four-straight times from 2007-10, including their first appearance in the championship game on Nov. 8, 2009.
The winner of Wednesday’s quarterfinal match between LSU and Missouri will advance to the SEC Tournament semifinal on Friday to face either No. 3 seed Ole Miss or No. 6 seed Texas A&M in a match that will kick at 6 p.m. CT on the SEC Network. The SEC Tournament Championship Game will follow on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT on ESPNU.