BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide will look to bounce back from defeats to nationally-ranked teams on Thursday night and battle one another for a valuable three points in the race for SEC Tournament qualification when they square off Sunday at 1 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Stadium in Baton Rouge.
Three points in the race for SEC Tournament qualification are on the line Sunday as Alabama sits in ninth place on the table with 10 points and LSU follows in 12th place with six points with two matches to play.
The Tigers (7-10, 2-7 SEC) fell in dramatic fashion to 11th-ranked Auburn on Thursday when they suffered a 2-1 defeat after conceding with just 53 seconds left in regulation. The Crimson Tide (8-7-1, 3-5-1) were victims of a 6-0 defeat at 13th-ranked Florida while dropping their fourth SEC match in five outings.
Sunday’s match will stream live on the SEC Network+ as fans 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 Sunday’s SEC clash.
While the Tigers trail 7-11-3 in their 21 matches played against Alabama in their history, they own a 6-3-2 mark in their 11 regular-season meetings since the appointment of Brian Lee as head coach in 2005. It’s certainly been one of the SEC’s most tightly-contested fixtures in recent seasons as the two sides have played four-straight extra-time matches with Alabama running out as 3-2 winners each of the last two years.
LSU picked up its last win in the series by a 2-1 margin when then-freshman Summer Clarke scored both goals in Tuscaloosa, including the game-winning Golden Goal in the 102nd minute. Clarke has scored three career goals in her three appearances against Alabama, while junior Jorian Baucom has also netted twice in two starts against the Crimson Tide.
Despite their defeat to Florida, junior Lacey Clarida remains Alabama’s leading scorer this season with seven goals to her name, while sophomore Abbie Boswell follows with six goals on the 2016 campaign.
After playing host to the Crimson Tide on Sunday afternoon, the Tigers will wrap up their regular season next Thursday when they welcome the 14th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks (14-3, 7-2 SEC) to Baton Rouge for their match that is set to kick off at 7 p.m. CT on the SEC Network+. LSU will look to win both matches to position themselves for SEC Tournament qualification.