BATON ROUGE – The LSU Soccer team (7-3-1, 2-1-0 SEC) will host the Florida Gators (4-3-3, 0-2-1 SEC) for a conference showdown inside the LSU Soccer Stadium on Friday, September 29 at 6 p.m. CT.
“We are so excited for a Friday night match under the lights. Tiger fans always turn out in force on these nights and after a big weekend and two great results, we are really confident heading into the Florida game that we can continue our form moving forward,” head coach Sian Hudson said.
“Florida is going to be another tough test,” said Hudson. “They have great team spirit and are working so hard as they find their identity under second year coach Sam Bohon. I love the resilience in our team and we’ve shown time and again we can respond well, however I think that the next challenge for us is to be the team in the ascendency from the get-go.”
The competition between the Tigers and the Gators will be available to watch via streaming on SEC Network+ and live stats for the game can be found on lsusports.net.
Promotion
The first 500 fans to arrive at the LSU Soccer Stadium on Friday night will receive an exclusive LSU Soccer shirt. There will also be $2 Tiger dogs. Gates to the stadium open at 5 p.m. CT.
All promotions for the 2023 LSU Soccer season can be found here.
Series History
The Tigers are 2-20-2 all-time against the Gators. The last time the two faced off was in 2021, when Florida defeated LSU by a score of 4-0 in Gainesville.
LSU owns a home record of 0-9-1 against Florida as the squad will look for their first win over the Gators on their home pitch.
Last Time On The Pitch
The LSU Soccer team (7-3-1, 2-1-0 SEC) defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs (6-3-2, 1-2-0 SEC) in their SEC home opener by a score of 2-1 inside the LSU Soccer Stadium on Sunday night.
LSU was led by goalkeeper Mollie Swift and forward Sage Glover, who each recorded a goal in back-to-back games. It was Swift’s second goal of the season and fourth in her career and Glover recorded her fourth of the season and eighth in her career. The two now lead the squad in goals scored in SEC play with two each.
Swift also added two saves on the night to go with her equalizing penalty kick while Mollie Baker and Kelsey Major each recorded an assist for the Tigers.
The first half was tightly contested as both teams battled back and forth in Baton Rouge. The Tigers took seven shots compared to the Bulldogs five and led the possession battle by 59%. The opening half ended scoreless as neither side could find the advantage.
The second half saw all the scoring action as Mississippi State’s Ilana Izqueirdo put the Bulldogs on the board first with an excellent strike from just outside the box in the 57th minute. Izquierdo’s goal was made possible via an assist from State’s Hannah Johnson.
The Tigers responded just six minutes later as Mollee Swift found the equalizer on a penalty kick. The Bulldogs committed a handball penalty in the box during a LSU attack that resulted in the opportunity for the Tigers to even the score. Swift made no mistake from the spot as she rifled the ball past Mississippi State’s Maddy Anderson.
In the 71st minute, LSU carried their momentum from the penalty kick and once again found the back of the net, this time via Glover. The Tigers used excellent counter attacking play to quickly move the ball down the field. Mollie Baker carried the ball into the attacking third and found Kelsey Major. Major took the ball all the way to the Bulldog box and played a precise ground pass to Glover, who then knocked the ball in near the left post past Anderson to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead in Baton Rouge.
Major continued to create opportunities for the Tigers as she almost secured a goal in the 87th minute, but her close-range header was denied by the Bulldogs’ Anderson.
Glover led the Tigers in shots on goal with two. Ava Galligan, Taylor Dobles, Laney Gonzales, Major and Baker each recorded a shot on net as well. LSU finished the match with 15 shots, eight of them being on target, and owned the possession battle by 58% over Mississippi State’s 42%.
2023 Stat Leaders
The Tigers are 7-3-1 on the year with a 5-1-1 home record as the squad gets ready to host the Gators. There have been various players across the scoresheets this year, putting the Tigers in an elite group of schools who have 10 or more different goal-scorers in the country.
Forwards Taylor Dobles and Sage Glover and midfielder Ida Hermannsdottir lead the Tiger’s in goals scored this year with four each.
Glover joined the team top-scorers after tallying her fourth goal on the year in the team’s last match against Mississippi State on Sunday. Her previous goals have come from the squad’s matches against Southern, Texas A&M-Commerce and No. 22 Georgia. She now owns eight in her career.
Dobles tallied her second brace of the year against Northwestern State to record her third and fourth goals of the year and move her career total to nine.
Hermannsdottir notched her fourth goal of the year against Pepperdine to move her career total to 11. The midfielder has also tallied two assists, 10 shots on goal and 10 points this season.
Noel and Baker sit as the second highest goal-scorers with three each. Noel tallied her third goal in the Tiger’s win over No. 22 Georgia after finding the net against Southern and Texas A&M-Commerce while Baker notched two goals against Southern Miss and one against Southern.
Baker and freshman forward Ava Galligan lead the team in assists with four each. Galligan has also notched one goal, six points and five shots on goal in her first year as a Tiger. Her first collegiate goal came against Pepperdine, where she found the equalizer to level out the match for the Tigers and earn a point in the draw.
Goalkeeper Mollee Swift has earned the start in all 11 matches for the Tigers this year and has recorded 26 saves on the year with 918 minutes played in between the posts. She owns a GAA of 1.27.
Veteran returners Baker, Swift, Gordon and Noel are the only four players to start in every match for LSU on the year, having tallied over a combined 3,000 minutes on the pitch through 11 matches.
Conference Rankings
LSU ranks second in the league with their record of 2-1-0 in conference play. The squad will look for their third straight conference win on Friday night against the Gators, which hasn’t been done in the regular season since 2013.
The Tigers rank amongst the top five teams in the conference in goals, shots, points and assists. LSU has tallied 27 goals, 26 assists, 184 shots and 80 points through 11 matches this year.
Baker’s 43 shots on the year place her second while her and Galligan are both ranked sixth in assists with four each, respectively.
Swift sits at fifth with her 26 saves on the year while also being tied at third for shutouts combined.
Glover Tabs SEC Player of the Week Honors
Sophomore Sage Glover was named the SEC Soccer Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 25 after scoring the game winners in back-to-back matches for the Tigers against No. 222 Georgia and Mississippi State. The award marks the second conference honor in her career.
Glover’s first goal came in a huge road win over No. 22 Georgia for the squad’s second victory over a ranked opponent this season. Both ranked wins came on the road as LSU remains unbeaten in four out of their five last matches against ranked opponents.
The Tigers took their first lead of the night against the Bulldogs in the 84th minute thanks to Glover.
Mollie Baker charged into the box and sent a shot on goal that beat the goalkeeper but was blocked by a Georgia defender. The goalkeeper could not recover the ball and Glover pounced on this chance, scoring on a shot that crossed the line despite a defender’s attempt at a clearance. Glover’s game-winning goal was her third goal of the season and was the final piece of an energetic 17 minutes that saw the Tigers go from 2-0 down to leading 3-2.
The New Orleans, Louisiana native continued her scoring streak in the Tiger’s last match against Mississippi State on Sunday evening. In the 71st minute, LSU carried their momentum from a penalty kick that led to Glover finding the back of the net. The Tigers used excellent counter attacking play to quickly move the ball down the field. Baker carried the ball into the attacking third and found Kelsey Major. Major took the ball all the way to the Bulldog box and played a precise ground pass to Glover, who then knocked the ball in near the left post past Anderson to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead in Baton Rouge.
Glover now owns four goals on the season to match the team high. The goal was her eighth in her career.
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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