BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team is set to wrap up its spring season Saturday as it travels to Ridgeland, Miss., to take on SEC Western Division rival Ole Miss in a match scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the Freedom Ridge Soccer Complex.
The Tigers and Rebels will square off in the opening game of a double header featuring a Major League Soccer contest between the Chicago Fire and Chivas USA.
The Tigers are looking to extend their overall unbeaten streak against the Rebels to three games after earning a 2-1 victory last spring in a contest that drew more than 4,000 spectators at the Freedom Ridge Soccer Complex followed by a 1-1 draw in Oxford, Miss., during the conference season this past fall.
“Coach (Steve) Holeman has done a great job building a nationally prominent program at Ole Miss and we’re looking forward to a great match tomorrow,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “This will be a great weekend for any Gulf Coast soccer fan, and Kenny White and the Mississippi Fire have put together another tremendous event.”
LSU carries a 2-2 overall record in spring exhibition matches after testing itself against many of the nation’s premier programs in women’s college soccer.
The side opened the spring season on the road with a hard-fought 2-0 defeat at the hands of national power Texas A&M on Feb. 24 before rebounding with an impressive 2-1 win against ACC power Wake Forest on March 23 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Aggies advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament this past fall and finished the season as the nation’s fifth-ranked team according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, while the Demon Deacons earned a spot in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before finishing as high as No. 19 in the national polls.
The Tigers also dropped a 2-0 decision to the Duke Blue Devils on Sunday at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C., before dominating in-state rival Northwestern State on Tuesday by the score of 9-1 in their only home match of the spring season at the LSU Soccer Complex.
LSU is slated to open the 2007 regular season at home against Southern Miss as it welcomes the Golden Eagles of Conference USA to the LSU Soccer Complex for a match that is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.