BATON ROUGE – The LSU Soccer team will wrap up its 2016 season on Thursday night when it welcomes the visiting 20th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks to Baton Rouge for a match that is slated to kick off at 7 p.m. CT on the SEC Network+. Admission to the LSU Soccer Stadium is absolutely free for the team’s home finale.
Thursday’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 by following @LSUSoccer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsusoccer and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsusoccer and liking LSU Soccer on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsusoccer. Fans are also invited to join in the team’s live in-game chat on Facebook throughout Thursday’s regular-season finale.
The Tigers (7-10-1, 2-7-1 SEC) are looking to close out their season with a home win after playing Alabama to a scoreless draw in their last outing at the LSU Soccer Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Razorbacks (14-4, 7-3) can lock up the No. 3 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament with a win on Thursday night as they look to bounce back from a 2-1 home defeat against Kentucky their last time out.
After playing to a 3-3 draw in their last meeting in Baton Rouge on Sept. 28, 2014, the Tigers got back in the win column and extended their unbeaten streak to 12-straight matches in the series with a 1-0 win away from home in Fayetteville on Oct. 15 of last season. That result ran LSU’s record to 11-0-1 against the Razorbacks dating back to the 2004 regular season.
The Tigers own a comfortable 14-5-2 advantage in their all-time series with Arkansas, including a 7-1-2 mark in 10 previous matches played in Baton Rouge. LSU is unbeaten in its last eight home matches in the series on a 6-0-2 run since 1998. Arkansas’ last win in the series came by a 3-2 margin in Fayetteville on Halloween Night in 2003.
It’s certainly been a high-scoring series historically as the Tigers have outscored the Razorbacks by a 32-13 margin in their current 12-game unbeaten run for an average of 3.75 goals scored per match by the teams.
LSU’s senior All-SEC striker Summer Clarke scored her first and only career hat trick against Arkansas when she found the net three times in a 5-3 win in Fayetteville on Oct. 4, 2013, to highlight her first All-SEC season as a Tiger. Clarke has scored four goals in three career appearances against Arkansas, while junior Jorian Baucom has scored two goals in two starts and senior Megan Lee has netted once in three appearances.
Baucom scored the game-winning goal in the 17th minute of last year’s 1-0 win in Fayetteville to secure a big three points in LSU’s qualifying campaign for the SEC and NCAA tournaments to close out 2015.
Arkansas is well on its way to NCAA Tournament qualification this season with a No. 18 ranking in the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index updated this Monday afternoon. They feature a postseason resume that includes two wins over RPI Top 15 teams in No. 12 Florida and No. 13 Duke. The Razorbacks are ranked as high as No. 20 nationally in this week’s polls in both the Soccer America and TopDrawerSoccer.com Top 25 polls. They are also the No. 23-ranked team nationally in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25.
The Razorbacks are led going forward by senior midfielder Lindsey Mayo, who has netted a team-leading eight goals in 2016. Junior defender Jessi Hartzler and freshman midfielder Kayla McKeon follow Mayo at seven goals apiece, while senior midfielder Claire Kelley and freshman forward Stefani Doyle have each added six goals this season.
Clarke and Lee are among four Tigers playing their final match at the LSU Soccer Stadium on Thursday night as Delaney Sheehan and Ella Williams will also be recognized in the team’s Senior Tribute before kickoff. It will also be Fan Appreciation Night when Arkansas comes to town as those attending the match can take part in exciting giveaways and other events throughout the night.