BATON ROUGE – The LSU Soccer team (3-2-0) returns home against the Texas A&M Commerce Lions (1-3-1) as they begin a three-match home slate on Sunday, September 3 at 1 p.m. CT inside the LSU Soccer Stadium.
“I think Texas A&M-Commerce is going to be a really well organized team and difficult to break down. The most important thing for us tomorrow is to get the little things right and make sure that we’re dialed in on the defensive side of the ball,” said head coach Sian Hudson. “It’s going to be important that we use depth off the bench after coming off a road trip. We’ve shown that we have the ability to use a lot of players in games and tomorrow is a good opportunity for us to respond in front of our home fans and get ourselves back in the win column.”
The competition between the Tigers and the Lions will be available to watch via streaming on SEC Network+ and live stats for the game can be found on lsusports.net.
Promotion
The Tiger’s match on Sunday is the “Geaux Gold” match in support of childhood cancer awareness. The first 500 fans to arrive at the LSU Soccer Stadium will receive a free t-shirt courtesy of Our Lady of the Lake Health. Admission to the match is free to the public.
All promotions for the 2023 LSU Soccer season can be found here.
Series History
This will be the first meeting between the two programs as LSU will look to record a 1-0 record over the Lions.
The match marks the first time that Texas A&M Commerce will face a SEC team during the regular season.
Last Time On The Pitch
The LSU Soccer team (3-2-0) were defeated by the Wisconsin Badgers (2-1-2) by a score of 3-0 on Thursday evening at the McClimon Track and Soccer Complex.
The Badgers took the lead in the 15th minute as Aryssa Mahrt converted on a rebound shot from six yards out. The lead was extended to 2-0 in the 52nd minute when Emma Jaskaniec converted from the penalty spot before Jaskaniec doubled her tally and made it 3-0 in the 78th minute after rounding the goalkeeper.
LSU was tested early as goalkeeper Mollee Swift made her first save of the night just under the two-minute mark. Wisconsin found the opening goal of the match in the 15th minute as midfielder Aryssa Mahrt found the bottom right of the net to give the Badgers the 1-0 lead on their home pitch.
Swift tallied her second save in the 18th minute as she caught a head-on shot from Wisconsin’s Izzy Verdugo. The two teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the first half, but the Tigers couldn’t find the go-ahead goal.
The Badgers opened the second half with an early goal in the 52nd minute to extend their lead. Wisconsin’s Emma Jaskaniec stepped up to the penalty spot after a handball from LSU’s Jordan Johnson in the box. Jaskaniec’s shot to the upper left gave Wisconsin the 2-0 lead in Madison.
The Tigers continued to fight and look for a goal to get them back in the game. In the 63rd minute, Maya Gordon whipped in a cross to the center of the box that found midfielder Ida Hermansdottir, but her half-volley from ten yards out went straight to the hands of the Wisconsin goalkeeper.
Wisconsin’s lead became 3-0 on the night in the 78th minute. Jaskaniec found herself on the end of a through ball and sprinted past Swift before finishing into an empty net.
LSU’s strongest chance of the night came in the 88th minute. Swift took a free kick from midfield and sent a ball into the box that was knocked down to the feet of Jordan Johnson, whose volley rocketed off the top of the crossbar.
Wisconsin outshot LSU by a margin of 10-9, with the Badgers having six shots on target compared to LSU’s five. Wisconsin’s goalkeeper Erin McKinney finished the night with five saves while Swift finished with two.
Dobles Earned SEC Player of the Week Honors
Forward Taylor Dobles was named the SEC Player of the Week following her performance against No. 9 Texas and Southern, announced by the league on Monday, August 28.
The award marked the first conference honor for the graduate student in her career.
The Pembroke Pines, Florida native had a huge performance on the road to lead the Tigers to victory over No. 9 Texas on Thursday, August 24. Dobles tallied a brace against the Longhorns to match her career high in a single match and get on the scoresheet for the first time this year.
Dobles put the Tigers on the board first in the 29th minute to give the Tigers the early lead in Austin. Forward Ava Galligan sent a cross from the right side to the back post that found the head of Rammie Noel. Noel’s header was centered to Dobles, who pounced with a header from six yards out that powered over the Longhorn defender on the goal line to give LSU the 1-0 lead. The goal was Dobles’ first of the season and sixth in her career.
Her scoring continued in the final minute of the first half as Dobles pounced on a defensive error from a Texas defender and broke away into a one-on-one chance. She dribbled into the box and sent a strong shot from 15 yards out that skipped past the goalkeeper and made it 3-0 with her second goal of the night. The goal was Dobles’s seventh of her collegiate career and her third brace.
Dobles and the Tigers made history as they defeated Texas for the first time in series history and recorded the program’s first Top-10 win on the road. The 2021 season saw the last time LSU defeated a ranked opponent at home and on the road with victories over No. 4 Arkansas in Baton Rouge and No. 21 Arizona State in Tempe.
The victory also ended the Longhorns 11-match winning streak at home.
Noel Named To Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week
A fifth-year senior from Carencro, Louisiana, Noel has been a crucial component for the Tigers this year on both sides of the ball. She proved her experience as she was named to the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week following her performance in week two.
Against the Longhorns, the forward tallied an assist as teammate Taylor Dobles found the finish for the opening goal of the match against No. 9 Texas in the 28th minute.
Noel notched her first goal of the year in the Tigers last match against Southern. Defender Maya Gordon found open midfielder Ava Galligan, who took the ball with open space down the right side. The freshman sent a ground cross ball into the box to Noel, who found the finish as she tapped it into the back of the net to make the score 1-0 LSU. The goal was the seventh of her career.
2023 Stat Leaders
Forward Mollie Baker and midfielder Ida Hermannsdottir lead the squad in goals and points through five games. Both Tigers have individually recorded three goals and an assist each to tally seven points on the year.
Baker’s goals this year came against Southern Miss and Southern to move her career total to seven while Hermannsdottir tallied goals against Southern Miss and No. 9 Texas. The sophomore owns 10 career goals.
Dobles follows with two goals on the year, both coming from the Tigers win against No. 9 Texas.
Freshman forward Ava Galligan has tallied three assists in her first year as a Tiger to record a team-high.
Goalkeeper Mollee Swift has recorded 12 saves on the year with five starts and 400 minutes played in between the posts this year.
The Brace Special
Forwards Mollie Baker and Taylor Dobles and midfielder Ida Hermannsdottir each own a brace on the year.
Baker and Hermannsdottir both individually recorded a brace in the Tigers match against Southern Miss to lead LSU to victory with a 4-1 win over the Golden Eagles. It was the first time two players individually scored two goals in a single match since 2021, when Alesia Garcia and Tinaya Alexander tallied multiple goals over Sam Houston.
Dobles found her sixth and seventh career goals against No. 9 Texas to match her career high of two goals in a single match. The graduate student helped lead the Tigers to victory to take down a ranked opponent on the road on Thursday night.
The Captains
LSU is captained by the veteran duo of fifth year seniors Maya Gordon and Mollee Swift for the 2023 season.
A native of Papillion, Nebraska, Swift is a three-year starter between the posts for the Tigers. The goalkeeper recorded 77 saves last year, which placed her third in the conference. She also averaged 4.05 saves per game leading all SEC keepers. She was responsible for five clean sheets in the 2022 season and finished the year with a record of 7-4-7 and 1,693 minutes played.
Swift currently ranks third in LSU program history in saves and shutouts as she will look to continue to etch her name in the record book this year.
Gordon is a veteran in the backline who has notched notable minutes in her four years at LSU with a total of 4,775 minutes on the pitch heading into her final season.
The Fort Lauderdale, Florida, native earned the start in 18 of 19 matches for the Tigers last year and returns experience to the defensive unit.
The Squad
This year, the roster is composed of 28 athletes with nine seniors, three juniors, 11 sophomores and five freshmen. 21 Tigers return from the 2022 roster who made a run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
There are seven new faces on the 2023 squad, including freshman Caley Swierenga, Andrea Iljkic, Ava Galligan, Brielyn Knowles and Alyson Campbell. New to the squad this year is also sophomore transfer out of Oklahoma, Hali Hartman, and walk-on Sarah Portis.
Fifth-year veterans Mollee Swift and Maya Gordon are key returners as they lead the squad as captains this upcoming season. Also returning are seniors Rammie Noel, Taylor Dobles, Jordan Johnson, Abby Smith, Britney Bertram, Mollie Baker and Bella Zanotelli, who bring experience and depth to the squad.
The junior class is composed of Nevaeh Johnson, Tori Gillis and Jaden Humbyrd. Danielle Shannon, Laney Gonzales, Bailey Herfurth, Jocelyn Ollivierre, Ida Hermannsdóttir, Angelina Thoreson, Kelsey Major Raelyn Prince and Sage Glover are ready for year two in the purple and gold.
Three countries are represented in this year’s squad (United States, Iceland and Sweden). Ida Hermannsdottir is a native of Iceland and Angelina Thoreson is a proud Swede.
Of the remaining 26 athletes, six are native to Colorado, five to Texas, and four to Louisiana and Florida. The remaining states that are represented are Arizona, New York, Virginia, Nebraska, Virginia and Washington
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