Baton Rouge, La. – The LSU soccer team (5-7-3) will look to continue its winning ways of late with two games on the slate this weekend. The Tigers will host Dallas Baptist University (5-0-0) on Friday afternoon at LSU Soccer Stadium for a 1 p.m. CT first kick. LSU will then hit the road and travel to Orange Beach, Alabama, for a neutral site contest against Florida (3-7-2) at 12 p.m. CT on Sunday at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.
vs. Dallas Baptist University (March 12) | LSU Soccer Stadium
Free Admission | Live Stats | Live Stream
vs. Florida (March 14) | Orange Beach Sportsplex
Series History
LSU and Dallas Baptist University will meet for the first time ever on Friday. Florida and LSU have played a total of 22 times and LSU’s last win came in 2011 on the road against Florida.
Gaining Momentum
The Tigers come into the match having gone 5-1-1 in their last seven contests dating back to the first round of the SEC Tournament in November. LSU has picked up wins against Alabama, No. 14 Ole Miss, Southern Miss, South Alabama, and Southern in that stretch as well as a tie against SEC foe Auburn. The only loss in the last seven came against No. 8 Texas A&M in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament by a tally of 1-0. South Alabama is an NCAA tourney team as they won the Sun Belt Conference title in the fall.
Tigers at LSU Soccer Stadium
2020-21 marks the 25th season of LSU hosting soccer matches at LSU Soccer Stadium. LSU’s record at LSU Soccer Stadium is 127-81-30 dating back to the 1996 season. The LSU soccer program played its first season in 1995 at the University High field adjacent to the football practice facility and went 9-2-1 at home that season. LSU owns a home record of 17-13-5 over the past three seasons.
Last Time Out
LSU matched its season high in goals with a 3-0 shutout win over Southern on March 5. Molly Thompson registered the second brace of her collegiate career, Tinaya Alexander added in a goal and an assist, and Bella Zanotelli picked up the first solo shutout of her collegiate career. Zanotelli made one save in the match to pick up the clean sheet.
Alexander was the beneficiary of some clinical play by the Tigers. Thompson and Wasila Diwura-Soale played some beautiful touches before sending Alexander into the right side of the box where she finished from approximately eight yards out in the seventh minute of the match. It was Diwura-Soale’s third assist of the season which is tied for the team lead alongside Alexander (3) and Meghan Johnson (3).
Thompson’s first goal of the match came right after halftime in the 48th minute. Alexander was about 24 yards out and played a stunning ground pass to the edge of the six where she proceeded to finish it off. In the 59th minute, Maddie Moreau beat her defender on the left flank and sent a cross in that penetrated Southern’s defense and Thompson banged it home from inside the six. It was Thompson’s fourth goal of the season, a career high, and it was assist No. 2 of the season for Moreau.
Stifling Defense
LSU’s backline has been working in complete cohesion with the LSU goalkeeper tandem of Mollee Swift and Bella Zanotelli over the past seven matches only allowing three goals in 660 minutes of game action. That’s good for a goals averaged against number of 0.41. Swift has a GAA of 1.13 in 13 games played and Zanotelli has a GAA of .80 in her three games played this season.
Tinaya Time
Redshirt junior Tinaya Alexander is having a career year with eight goals and three assists for a career high point total of 19. Alexander has three braces on the season, a mark that leads the SEC. She has factored into the box score in seven of LSU’s 15 matches and in those games the Tigers are 5-1-1.
She’s registered points in three of LSU’s four games this spring and her third assist of the season came last Friday against Southern. Alexander now has 16 career assists which is the ninth most in LSU history. Alexanders’ 1.46 points averaged per game ranks as the fourth highest total in the SEC this season.
Swift Saves
Sophomore transfer Mollee Swift has now played 13 matches in net for the Tigers since arriving in Baton Rouge. The sophomore has collected 65 saves and is allowing 1.13 goals per game with a save percentage of .812. Swift leads the SEC with 65 saves and her aforementioned save percentage of .812 ranks No. 2 in the SEC.
The Hudson Profile
Sian Hudson is serving as the seventh head coach in LSU history during the 2020-21 season. She came to LSU after coaching at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs where she accumulated a record of 52-10-4 in three seasons from 2017-19. Her win totals in each of the three seasons – 17 in 2017, 16 in 2018, and 19 in 2019 – were the three winningest seasons in program history. She led UCCS to the NCAA Division II Tournament in each of those three seasons which included a run to the national semifinals in 2017.
Prior to UCCS she spent two seasons as an assistant at Colorado College in Colorado Springs as well as coaching in the W-League. As the head skipper in 2015, she led the Colorado College to the conference title and she had four players drafted into the National Women’s Soccer League during her time with the Pride.
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