BATON ROUGE — LSU Soccer (8-3-6, 3-2-4 SEC) is hosting Ole Miss (9-5-3, 3-5-1 SEC) for their final match of the regular season on Thursday, October 27 at 6 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
The match will be available via livestream on SEC Network Plus. Links to watch and live stats for the match can be found on lsusports.net.
Series History – Ole Miss
In the series history between the LSU Tigers and Ole Miss Rebels, the Tigers narrowly trail the Rebels by a margin of 12-13-4. When the two teams met last season in Oxford, Ole Miss grabbed a 2-0 win over LSU.
Last Time On The Pitch
The Tigers earned a point at home as they held their ground against Auburn and battled to a 0-0 draw on Sunday afternoon at the LSU Soccer Stadium. The draw was the Tiger’s sixth of the season.
Auburn had the attacking advantage throughout the first half. Goalkeeper Mollee Swift made the first stop in the match in the 2nd minute as she calmly collected a shot on goal from Auburn’s Sydney Richards. Swift picked up three more saves in the 15th, 40th, and 43rd minutes to finish the half with four saves. On the flip side, Auburn’s Maddie Prohaska had one save in the first half, a simple catch to smother a long shot from LSU’s Jordan Johnson.
Defender Lindsi Jennings had the biggest stop of the match in the 40th minute as she chased down an Auburn attacker through on goal and slid to block her shot for a corner. The first half ended scoreless.
The second half saw LSU more explosive on the offensive front. Prohaska denied a one-on-one chance from LSU forward Taylor Dobles to keep the match all-even.
The final chance of the match came in the 87th minute when Richards beat LSU defenders and sent a shot from 20 yards out that was caught by Swift.
Swift tallied two saves in the second half in the 48th and 87th minutes and finished the match with six saves on the day while Prohaska finished with two.
Auburn outshot LSU by a margin of 14-13, with Auburn having six shots on goal compared to LSU’s two. The possession battle went the way of LSU by a margin of 56% to 44%. Neither team could take advantage of their chances and the match played out to a scoreless draw as a result.
Senior Night
LSU will recognize 10 seniors during pregame at Thursday’s match and honor the players for all of their accomplishments throughout their career.
Shannon Cooke, a native of Rickmansworth, England, is a 5th year member of the LSU Soccer Program. Cooke has been a vital piece in the defense during career, starting in 83 matches and over 7,000 minutes played on the pitch. She has recorded eight goals, four assists, and 20 points. Cooke was a part of the 2018 squad that won the SEC Championship, where she scored the first goal of her LSU career in the SEC semifinals against Tennessee and again in the title match against Arkansas to level the match up at one in the 72nd minute.
Brenna McPartlan, a native of Blackburn, England, has spent two years in the Purple and Gold and has seen action in 23 games. She recorded her first career goal as a Tiger this season against Southern Miss and has two assists on the year. Prior to LSU, McPartlan spent three seasons at South Alabama, where she started in 65 matches and tallied 20 goals and 15 assists.
Olivia Wilkes, a native of Preston, England, has spent the last two seasons with the Tigers and appeared in 20 matches. Prior to LSU, Wilkes spent three seasons at the University of South Alabama, where she played in 61 matches and had five goals and 11 assists. She recorded her first goal in the Purple and Gold this season against Southern Miss and found her second goal of the year at Mississippi State.
Meghan Johnson, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a 5th year member of the LSU soccer program. As one of our veteran players, Meghan has racked up 5 career goals and 3 career assists. Johnson is one of two who was a part of the 2018 SEC Championship team. Johnson scored the game-winning penalty kick against Tennessee to send the squad to the semifinals that year.
Anna Rockett, a native of Cary, North Carolina, is a 4-year member of LSU’s soccer program. Anna has made a plethora of appearances in her career totaling 45 games played for LSU.
Taylor Dobles, a native of Pembroke Pines, Florida, is in her fourth year with the LSU Soccer program. She is a two-time SEC Academic Honoree and was voted as the 2021 Freshman of the Year by the Louisiana Sports-Writer Association. Dobles has played in all 17 games so far this year, including a career-high two goal game vs Stephen F. Austin in August.
Britney Bertram, native of Slidell, Louisiana, is in her second year with the LSU Soccer program. Prior to her time in Baton Rouge, Bertram spent her first two years of college at Stetson University, where she recorded one goal and two assists in 21 games played. She has appeared in 7 games for the Tigers this season.
Alesia Garcia, a native of Aurora, Colorado, Alesia Garcia is a two-year member of the LSU soccer program. After three successful seasons at the University of New Mexico, Garcia joined the Tigers in the fall of 2021 and has gone on to make 37 appearances and 25 starts for the Tigers while scoring 11 goals and getting five assists. In her collegiate career, she has scored 30 total goals and assisted 13 in 91 total games.
Lindsi Jennings, a native of Conroe, Texas, is a two-year member of the LSU soccer program. She spent three years at the University of Northern Colorado before joining the Tigers in the fall of 2021. In that time, she’s made 37 appearances for the Tigers and started 28 of those matches in defense. Jennings was named a captain ahead of the 2022 season and has led the Tigers alongside co-captain and fellow super senior Shannon Cooke. Jennings has scored three goals for the Tigers, including a late game-winning goal this season against Missouri.
Mollee Swift, a native of Papillion, Nebraska, is a three-year member of the LSU soccer program. Swift spent her freshman year at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs before enrolling at LSU in the fall of 2020. In her time as a Tiger, she has served as the starting goalkeeper for LSU for three years, making 52 appearances and starts while picking up 221 saves and earning 23 wins between the posts. Her 221 career saves currently place her tied for 4th all-time in program history while her 1.21 Goals Against Average also places her 4th all-time in program history.
SEC Standings
LSU sits in eighth place in the SEC with one match remaining on the conference schedule. The top 10 teams in the league advance to the conference tournament which will take place from October 30 – November 6 in Pensacola, Fla.
The Tigers have earned 13 points in conference play this year and rank fourth in the SEC West division. The two division champions will serve as the top two seeds at the SEC Tournament, and the final eight teams are decided by points accumulated in conference play.
For a full list of standings, visit secsports.com.
Top Scoring Tigers
Freshman Ida Hermannsdottir and fifth-year senior Alesia Garcia have led the way in goals for the Tigers this season. Hermannsdottir currently leads the team with six goals while Garcia follows with five.
Hermmansdottir found her first collegiate goal in the 33rd minute against San Diego to give the Tigers the 1-0 lead against the Toreros. She found her second and third career goals in the 27th and 82nd minutes against Grambling to earn the first brace of her collegiate career. This marked back-to-back games where the freshman found the back of the net.
The forward continued her hot streak and tallied the fourth goal of her career at No. 6 Rutgers, when she intercepted a ball in the final third and hit a right-footed effort that beat the Scarlet Knights’ goalkeeper and landed in the bottom left corner.
Goal number five came in her SEC debut against Vanderbilt as she hit a free kick from 25 yards out that was powerful enough to beat the diving goalkeeper and land in the bottom-left corner. The goal was the game winner for LSU, who won 2-1 on the day.
Hermannsdottir’s sixth and most recent goal came at Texas A&M, when she charged into the box before being upended by an Aggie defender and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Not short on confidence, Hermannsdottir stepped up and calmly placed the ball on the left side of the goal to tie the match at 2-2 in College Station.
Forward Alesia Garcia has also been a leader in the offense, recording five goals for the Tigers. Garcia opened her scoring on the season in California. The forward tallied her first goal against Pepperdine in the 54th minute. The Waves goalkeeper was unable to control the ball on a deflected shot from Jordan Johnson and Garcia seized the opportunity. She pounced on the loose ball and placed it into the back of the net. The goal was the first of the season for Garcia and the 26th of her collegiate career.
Her second goal came against the San Diego Toreros to mark the second straight game she found the back of the net for the Tigers. Garcia capped the night off in fashion for the Tigers as she scored the fourth goal of the match in the 87th minute to secure the road win.
The Colorado native continued her scoring at Southern Miss in the 52nd minute for the Tigers as she sent a rocket into the top-right corner from 19 yards out to take the 1-0 lead in the match.
Her fourth finish against No. 6 Rutgers came on a rebound goal after the Scarlet Knights goalkeeper loosely deflected a shot from Thoreson. The goal from Garcia took the early 1-0 lead for the Tigers in New Jersey.
Garcia’s fifth goal of the season and first in conference play came against Mississippi State. Defender Rammie Noel broke away down the left flank and sent a cross to the back post and found Garcia, who was unmarked and calmly headed the ball home. The goal was a strong response from the Tigers and tied the match in Starkville 1-1.
Youth On The Pitch
After scoring three each in non conference play, Mollie Baker and Sage Glover both found the back of the net in SEC play for the first time in their collegiate careers in the Tigers win over the Kentucky Wildcats on Sunday, October 2. The forwards both narrowly trail the top scorers with four each on the year.
Glover gave LSU a 2-1 lead in the match as she finished off a fantastic team sequence with a 10-yard goal that landed in the right-corner. Baker’s goal came in the 58th minute when the match was tied at 2-2. The freshman tracked a cleared ball to midfield and capitalized on a mistake in defense to break away with pace and beat the goalkeeper one-on-one.
Baker and Glover are tied as the second leading goal scorers with four each. Of LSU’s 31 goals scored this season, 12 have come from true freshmen (38.7%) while another 12 goals have come from 5th year seniors/graduate students.
The Tigers have 13 goal scorers and have shown strong depth in the scoring department by scoring two or more goals in every match but one this season (1-1 draw vs. UCF).
Terrific Thoreson
Angelina Thoreson leads the team in assists with six. The freshman continues to be a proven weapon on both sides of the ball and continues to create scoring opportunities for the Tigers.
Thoreson recorded her first career assist in the season opener against Stephen F. Austin, where she sent in a ground pass inside the box that found Baker for the finish.
Her second assist came on the road at San Diego on a strong and accurate ground cross from the right side of the box that found Glover, who slotted it past the goalkeeper and extended the Tiger lead to 3-1.
Thoreson tallied assist No. 3 in Friday’s match against Grambling. Thoreson controlled the ball on the edge of the box and laid off a simple pass to Hermannsdottir, who came in charging from midfield and smashed the goal from 24 yards out.
The forward scored the first collegiate goal of her career at LSU in the squad’s matchup against Princeton on September 8. Thoreson took the early lead for the Purple & Gold in the 14th minute as she slotted a ball from 15 yards out into the bottom-left corner.
Thoreson tallied her fourth assist in the Tigers face off with No. 6 Rutgers and took a shot on goal, which fell loose off the goalie and found Garcia for the rebound finish.
Against Missouri, Thoreson tallied her fifth assist as she laid off a pass to Dobles, who hit a first-time cross into the box and found Prince, who took a volley touch that found the back of the net.
The freshman continued her tally of assists against Kentucky. Thoreson sent a ground cross on a first-time effort to find Sage Glover, who scored in the 34th minute to give the Tigers the 2-1 lead against the Wildcats.
Thoreson increased her team-high total on the year to seven against Texas A&M after she took a touch on a through ball from Mollie Baker, drove into the box and sent a ground cross to the back post that found Noel, who tapped the ball in and gave LSU its first goal of the night in the 27th minute.
The forward ranks sixth in the country for assists and 10th in conference.
Top Drawer Soccer Top 100 Freshman
Freshmen Ida Hermannsdottir and Angelina Thoreson were named to Top Drawer Soccer’s Top 100 Freshman list.
The list, announced by the organization, ranked the top 100 freshmen players in the country. Midfielder Ida Hermannsdottir ranked at No. 10 and forward Angelina Thoreson was ranked No. 38.
Hermannsdottir leads the LSU squad in goals scored with six in her first season with the Tigers. As a freshman, Hermannsdottir has earned the start in 12 out of the Tigers 15 matches and recorded six goals, two assists, 13 shots on goal and 19 points. She ranks 14th in the country in goals scored.
The Icelandic international has represented Iceland at senior, U19, and U17 levels and has made two senior appearances for the Iceland National Team. Prior to LSU, Hermannsdottir played professionally at Valur Reykjavik in Iceland, where she made 41 appearances for Valur Reykjavik and scored 10 goals. She helped claim the Iceland League Title and Rerykjavik Cup in 2021 and the Icelandic Women’s Super Cup in 2022.
Thoreson leads the Tigers with seven assists on the season. Along with a team-high seven assists, Thoreson has also recorded one goal, 10 shots on goal and nine points through 15 games. She started in 13 of those matches. The forwards ranks seventh in the country for assists.
The Sweden native played the last three seasons (2019, 2020, 2021) for IK Uppsala, a professional club back in Sweden and made over 50 appearances for the club. Thoreson played the 2019 season in the Damallsvenskan division, which is the highest level of women’s soccer in Sweden. She scored five goals in 20 games played during the 2021 season.
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