PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No.10 seed LSU Soccer team (8-7-3, 3-5-2 SEC) is set to open postseason competition in the first round of the 2023 SEC Tournament against No. 7 seed Kentucky (9-3-5, 3-3-4 SEC) on Sunday, October 29 at 1:00 p.m. CT inside Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex.
LSU will kick off competition as the opening match of the tournament on Sunday. The winner of the first round competition will advance to quarterfinals and face No. 2 Georgia on Tuesday, October 31 at Noon CT. Semifinals are on Thursday, November 2 while the championship is set for Sunday, November 5 at 1 p.m. CT.
“We are excited for the Kentucky matchup. The SEC Tournament is such a great event and one that always has twists and turns and memorable times for our team,” head coach Sian Hudson said. “After the nerves and excitement of Thursday night with the tiebreaker situation, it is certainly great to be in Pensacola and back at the beach. The never say die attitude we showed in the final stages against Texas A&M was a true reflection of our team spirit, and that will be crucial this week. We have to bring our best performance tomorrow to start this week and if the Tigers show that same mentality against Kentucky, we know we can make a deep run in postseason play.”
“In recent years, we have faced teams that we have played just days before in the regular season, so it is nice to come into this game against a team we haven’t seen yet this season. I have been really impressed with the job Troy (Fabiano) has done at Kentucky since he came into the league. Postseason is a time where experience is key and understanding how to manage the ebbs and flows of a game will be crucial for us as we enter the knockout format.”
The competition between the Tigers and the Wildcats will be broadcast live on SEC Network with Alex Perlman and Marion Crowder on the call. Live stats and results for the first round competition can be found on secsports.com.
All competition in this year’s SEC Tournament will be covered live on SEC Network at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex in Pensacola, Florida.
Series History
Sunday’s matchup between LSU and Kentucky will be the 25th all-time meeting between the two programs.
Kentucky leads the all-time series over LSU with a record of 13-9-2. The Tigers have won the last three meetings over the Wildcats, including a 3-2 victory in Baton Rouge last season.
The two programs have faced each other in the SEC Tournament three times, all in the first round, with Kentucky winning twice.
SEC Tournament History
This year marks LSU’s 19th program appearance in the SEC Tournament and fourth under head coach Sian Hudson. The Tigers own 11 wins in the tournament in program history, having reached the finals twice and winning the championship in 2018 for the school’s first and only conference title.
LSU owns a record of 11-12-8 all-time record at the SEC Championship tournament.
Last season, the Tigers were defeated by Ole Miss in a double-overtime penalty shoot out to get eliminated in the first round of the tournament.
Scouting The Wildcats
The Wildcats are making their first SEC Tournament appearance since the 2020 season and their first in the 10-team format since 2015. Kentucky earned the No. 7 seed in the bracket after tallying 13 points during league play, the most for the program since 2014. The team also owns 187 shots, 23 goals, 27 assists, 73 points and eight shutouts on the year.
Kentucky’s first ever SEC Tournament win came against the Tigers back in 1995. The Wildcats own a 14-18-2 all time record at the conference tournament, winning the title in both 1995 and 2006.
The Wildcats are 9-3-5 on the year with a conference record of 3-3-4. They tallied a win over No. 9 Alabama in September for their first top-10 win in a decade, while also holding off No. 7 South Carolina in a 0-0 draw.
Last Time On The Pitch
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.
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.
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.
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.
2023 Stat Leaders
The Tigers are 8-7-3 on the year as they claimed the final spot in the tournament bracket to continue their road to the college cup after a 0-0 draw against Texas A&M.
Forward Taylor Dobles is the squad’s leading goal scorer with five on the year, a career-high. Her last goal against No. 24 Alabama was the 10th in her career at LSU. The graduate student has also found the back of the net against No. 9 Texas and Northwestern State this season.
Sage Glover and Ida Hermannsdottir have the second most goals scored on the year for Tiger with four each. Glover notched her fourth goal on the year in the squad’s match against Mississippi State. Her previous goals have come against Southern, Texas A&M-Commerce and No. 22 Georgia. She owns eight in her career.
Hermannsdottir notched her fourth goal of the year against Pepperdine to move her career total to 11. She scored in the Tiger’s matches against Southern Miss and No. 9 Texas. The midfielder has also tallied two assists, 11 shots on goal and 10 points this season.
Other goal scorers on the year include Noel (3), Baker (3), Galligan (3), Major (2), Bertram (2), Swift (2), Prince (1) and Jordan Johnson (1). The Tigers have over 10 different goal-scorers, which puts them in an elite category.
Baker has been a crucial part of the midfield as she has started in every match for the Tigers this year. The senior has notched 55 shots, with 23 being on target, four assists and 10 points through 1,373 minutes on the pitch.
Freshman forward Ava Galligan leads the team in assists and points. Galligan has notched three goals, five assists, 11 points and 12 shots on goal in her first year as a Tiger. Her first collegiate goal came against Pepperdine, where she found the equalizer, again for the game winner against Tennessee and most recently against No. 9 Arkansas to put her team on the board.
Goalkeeper Mollee Swift has recorded 61 saves on the year with 1,548 minutes in between the posts. She owns a GAA of 1.51. The keep has also tallied two goals on penalty kicks this year.
Veteran and key players Baker, Swift, and Gordon 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 18 matches.
Conference Rankings
LSU sits at tenth place in the league with their record of 3-5-2 heading into postseason. The Tigers have earned 11 points through 10 conference games.
The squad ranks amongst the top 10 teams in the conference in goals, shots, saves, points and assists. LSU has tallied 30 goals, 30 assists and 90 points through 18 matches this year. The squad has also recorded 259 shots, with 108 of those being on target.
Baker’s 55 shots on the year place her fifth in the conference while Galligan ranks seventh in assists with five. Swift ranks second with her 61 saves on the year while also placing in the top-10 in shutouts with her in between the posts.
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.
Swift Saves
Goalkeeper Mollee Swift became the all-time save leader in program history with her 299 career saves in the Purple & Gold and counting. The keeper made three saves in the squad’s match against No. 9 Arkansas to break the previous save record of 287 and take the lead.
The Papillion, Nebraska native recorded 45 saves during her time at the University of Colorado- Colorado Springs before transferring to LSU. Since starting her career at LSU in 2021, she has tallied 299 saves in between the post to etch herself in the LSU record books.
On the year, the keep has tallied 61 saves through 18 matches and over 1,000 minutes between the posts.
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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