BATON ROUGE – Tiger fans can get warmed up for football’s “Gold Game” against Mississippi State on Saturday by showing their colors at soccer’s “Gold Match” on Friday night when LSU plays host to the visiting Ole Miss Rebels in its Southeastern Conference home opener scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
The first 500 fans through the gates will be treated with free gold vuvuzelas, courtesy of the LSU Marketing & Promotions Department. It will also be Student Point Night at the LSU Soccer Stadium on Friday as students in attendance can receive their priority points toward the purchase of their football tickets.
Friday’s match will feature live on the SEC Network+ as fans who are unable to attend can watch online at http://ESPN3.com or through the WatchESPN app available on all smartphones and tablet devices.
Fans can also follow all the action from each match during the 2016 season 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. Fans are even invited to join in the team’s live in-game chat on Facebook throughout Friday’s SEC home opener.
GEAUX GOLD! Support your Tigers by wearing gold to #LSU‘s SEC home opener vs. Ole Miss on Friday night! #AllForLSU pic.twitter.com/cJ83LXB9NC
— LSU Soccer (@LSUSoccer) September 14, 2016
The Tigers (4-4, 0-1 SEC) are looking to get back on track after seeing their three-game winning streak snapped in their conference opener at 11th-ranked Texas A&M on Sunday. They are also looking to snap a streak of three-straight defeats to Ole Miss (4-4, 0-1) in the series with their last win coming in Oxford, Mississippi, on Oct. 19, 2012, by a 3-2 scoreline in extra time.
LSU and Ole Miss have played one of the SEC’s most tightly-contested series heading into Friday’s contest as both teams are an even 9-9-4 in their 22 matches since the 1995 season. The sides are also level at 4-4-2 in their 10 meetings all-time at the LSU Soccer Stadium in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers have flipped their fortunes following a 1-3 start to the season after returning to Baton Rouge with a 3-1 mark on their recent four-game road swing capped by their 3-0 defeat at Texas A&M on Sunday.
Ole Miss has enjoyed opposite form than that of LSU this season while following a 3-1 start with a 1-3 mark over the last two weekends. That includes a 5-0 home defeat to Missouri in the Rebel’s SEC opener last Friday before a 1-0 setback to South Alabama on Sunday afternoon in a match also played at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium in Oxford.
The Rebels are led once again this season by the likes of First-Team All-SEC forward Addie Forbus and senior forward Gretchen Harknett on the front line and last year’s SEC Freshman of the Year Cece Kizer in midfield. Forbus has found the form once again that secured her first-team all-conference honors a year ago as she has netted a team-leading seven goals in eight matches this season, while Harknett has scored twice and Kizer has added one goal to the team’s total of 11 goals on the season.
After playing host to Ole Miss in their SEC home opener Friday night, the Tigers welcome Lamar to Baton Rouge on Sunday afternoon for a game that is set to kick off at 1 p.m. CT on the SEC Network+. In celebration of National Cheeseburger Day, fans can purchase cheeseburgers for just $3 at the LSU Soccer Stadium concession stand throughout Sunday’s match.