LSU Soccer Draws Texas A&M In Regular Season Finale, 0-0
BATON ROUGE – The LSU Soccer team (8-7-3, 3-5-2 SEC) held their ground against the Texas A&M Aggies (8-6-4, 4-3-3 SEC) in a 0-0 draw to end their regular season finale on Thursday night inside the LSU Soccer Stadium.
“Texas A&M are a great team, and I think they have some really dangerous forwards,” LSU Head Coach Sian Hudson said. “We talked a lot about keeping them in front of us and not letting them get behind us. They had some good looks outside the 18-yard box, but I think we limited them well.”
The result earned the Tigers a point in the standings and was good enough to send the Tigers to the 2023 SEC Soccer Tournament in Pensacola Beach, FL. The Tigers will start tournament competition on Sunday, October 29 at 1:00 p.m. CT against the Kentucky Wildcats.
“Mollie Baker was an absolute thorn in their side the whole match. We had our moments, but we just couldn’t find a way to take the advantage. We haven’t kept many clean sheets this season, so I think our defense got us through to the SEC Tournament in the end. That last 30 minutes might have been the longest 30 minutes of my life, just waiting for the standings to come in from the SEC. The girls are thrilled, we are thrilled for another chance to get to the SEC Tournament, and we have a big game versus Kentucky on Sunday.”
Goalkeeper Mollee Swift finished the night with three saves while Texas A&M’s Kenna Caldwell finished with four. Ida Hermannsdóttir, Mollie Baker and Kelsey Major each recorded a shot on goal for the Tigers.
Texas A&M had a chance to score in the 16th minute via forward Sam Smith. However, as she made her final approach on goal, LSU’s Maya Gordon made an excellent tackle in the box to stop Smith from putting the Aggies up 1-0.
Neither offense could create quality chances other than the already mentioned Texas A&M chance in the first half, with the defenses limiting the quality of opportunities created, as the first half ended 0-0 in Baton Rouge.
LSU had a chance to take the lead in the second half when Mollie Baker won a penalty for the Tigers in the 56th minute. Mollee Swift stepped up and fired the penalty off the crossbar, and the Tigers were unable to put the ball in the back of the net off the rebound.
Although Swift missed the penalty, Hudson was confident in her ability and wouldn’t have changed a thing.
“I would put my house on Swifty finishing that one. She never misses. It’s unfortunate, but we had two or three other good chances during the match.” said Hudson.
Neither team was able to find the advantage and the match ended in a scoreless draw. Texas A&M had the advantage on possession with a 51% rate compared to LSU’s 49%. Both squads finished with 13 shots, with the Aggies notching four shots on goal and the Tigers finishing with three shots on goal.
LSU will take the field again on Sunday in the 2023 SEC Soccer Tournament at 1:00 p.m. CT against the Kentucky Wildcats. The match between the Tigers and the Wildcats, as well as all tournament competition, will be broadcast live on SEC Network. Live stats will be available on lsusports.net.