BATON ROUGE – The LSU Soccer Team (1-0-0) is set to host Arizona State (1-0-2) for their home opener on Sunday, August 25th at 7 p.m. CT inside the LSU Soccer Stadium.
“Building off the momentum from our first win last week is crucial as we head into our home opener against Arizona State. There’s nothing like playing in front of our fans, and we’re excited to bring that energy to the field on Sunday,” said head coach Sian Hudson. “Arizona State is always a strong opponent, and I think Graham (Winkworth) does a great job, so this game will be a good test for us before we hit the road next week. We’re focused and ready to get the job done as we continue to push forward this season.”
The competition between the Tigers and the Sun Devils in Baton Rouge will be streamed on SEC Network+. The watch link and live stats link can be found here. Visit this link for all things LSU Soccer gameday.
Promotions
The first giveaway of the season will be a free “Bike Mike” t-shirt as the Tigers officially open their season inside the LSU Soccer Stadium. Fans who arrive at the stadium on a first-come first-serve basis will receive a voucher to claim their shirt at halftime of the match. There will also be free Kona Ice.
It is the perfect opportunity during Welcome Week to kick off the new school year with the first sporting event on campus of the year. Gates to the soccer stadium open at 5 p.m. CT.
All match-by-match promotions for the year can be found here.
The Opponent
ASU and LSU have split two all-time meetings, with each winning one on the road. The Sun Devils claimed a 1-0 win in Baton Rouge in 2019 while the Tigers won 5-2 in Tempe during the 2021 season.
This will be only the third time that the two teams face each other.
Preseason Watchlist
Five Tigers on the LSU Soccer squad were named to the 2024 SEC Soccer Preseason Watchlist. A total of 88 student-athletes were named to this year’s watchlist, as Mollie Baker, Jazmin Ferguson, Ida Hermannsdóttir, Ava Galligan and Sydney Cheesman are the Tigers to keep an eye on this year.
Baker, Hermannsdottir and Galligan all return to LSU this year, while Ferguson and Cheesman transferred to the team this spring and enter their first season in the Purple and Gold.
A captain and leader on this year’s LSU squad, Baker enters her final season with the Tigers in 2024. The Gilbert, Arizona native was the only player to appear and start in all 20 matches for the Tigers last year. The forward tallied three goals, five assists, and 1,551 minutes on the pitch while earning United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region Third Team honors in 2023.
A native of Reykjivic, Iceland, Hermannsdottir continues to be one of the top midfielders to watch in the nation. She enters year three at LSU with 11 goals, four assists and 2,366 minutes in her career.
Galligan, a dual forward/midfielder out of Ashburn, Virginia, enters her second year with the Tigers after a breakout debut season in 2023. She recorded four goals, five assists and played in all 20 matches in her freshman season.
Ferguson joined the squad from East Carolina University, where she spent two seasons and was the 2023 American Athletic Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year. A native of Conyers, Georgia, she will serve as a vice captain on the squad as she enters her junior season this upcoming fall. United Soccer Coaches named her a defender to watch in 2024.
Cheesman is a defender out of Lafayette, Colorado, who transferred to LSU from the University of North Carolina, where she tallied 175 minutes on the pitch in her nine games played and helped lead the Tar Heels to two NCAA Tournament appearances. The defender was rated four stars by Top Drawer Soccer in the recruiting rankings in 2022 prior to starting her collegiate career at UNC.
Defender To Watch
United Soccer Coaches named LSU Soccer junior Jazmin Ferguson a defender to watch in 2024.
The defenders watch list was the second position to be announced by the organization, as United Soccer Coaches announced NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Players to Watch lists for every position. Ferguson was the only Tiger to claim a spot by the organization.
The lists are compiled and released by the Division I All-America Committees to promote college soccer.
A native of Conyers, Georgia, Ferguson began her junior season with the Tigers last Thursday as she will continue to be a force in the backline. In her first year at LSU, she will also serve as the Tigers Vice Captain in 2024.
Ferguson has already made a first impression in the Purple and Gold, tallying her first goal in her first start in the squad’s season opener against South Alabama last Thursday.
She transferred to LSU in the spring after spending her first two seasons at East Carolina University, where she was the 2023 American Athletic Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year.
In her collegiate debut season, she was named the AAC Freshman of the Year as well as earning Second-Team All-Conference and All-Freshman team nods. By the end of the season, she was rated the No. 56 defender in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer as only a freshman.
Last year, the Georgia native became the first East Carolina player in program history to win two postseason awards and just the third Defensive Player of the Year in team history (first since 2008).
Her playing experience will provide a veteran voice on the pitch for LSU while adding depth to the Tigers defensive unit.
The Coaching Staff
Hudson enters her fifth season with the Tigers this year. Since beginning her tenure at LSU in 2019, she has propelled the program to unprecedented success alongside Associate Head Coach Seb Furness, who joined the coaching staff that same year.
Joining them on staff is Assistant Coaches Antony Blackburn and Conor Cable. Blackburn is a native of Derby, England, who initially joined the Tigers in Fall 2023 as an analyst. He will primarily assist with session planning and delivery, individual development plans, and opposition preparation. Prior to LSU, Blackburn served as Head Coach of Valencia C.F. U14’s (Valencia, Spain), one of the most prestigious academies in the world of professional soccer.
Cable joins the Tigers from Lake Erie College, where he spent five years helping lead the storm to new heights. Cable will primarily lead the LSU goalkeeping unit and oversee LSU Soccer community service and outreach events.
The Spalding, England native brings a wealth of experience to Baton Rouge from both his previous work with the Lake Erie goalkeeping unit and his own professional experiences. Cable came through the professional system in England, playing for a variety of Premier League and Championship Clubs including Norwich City and Cardiff City, and spent his youth academy days at Bristol City Football Club.
Under Hudson’s leadership, the LSU Tigers achieved significant milestones during the 2023 season, marking their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance and third consecutive postseason showing—the most straight appearances by a coach in LSU history. Notably, Hudson secured her first LSU NCAA Tournament victory with a first-round win against Lamar on November 11, 2022.
This upcoming season, Hudson and her staff will look to earn her fourth consecutive and LSU’s 10th overall NCAA appearance. The Tigers also hope to secure the program’s 14th ten-win season while in pursuit of an SEC and national championship.
Attendance is another important component for the Tigers, as Hudson and her staff are striving to set new attendance records inside the LSU Soccer Stadium in 2024. Three of the program’s top ten largest crowds occurred under Hudson’s tenure.
“I’m committed to working tirelessly alongside my staff and team to achieve the success our Tiger fans deserve,” said Hudson. “Witnessing the growth of soccer in Louisiana during my time here has been incredibly rewarding, and we want to continue to build on that each year.”
The 2024 Roster
This year’s team is a mix of youth and experience. The roster is made up of 29 players, with one graduate student, two seniors, seven juniors, nine sophomores and 10 freshmen.
Mollie Baker and Jaden Humbyrd will lead the squad as captains this year, while ECU transfer Jazmin Ferguson will serve as the vice captain.
LSU has welcomed four new transfers for this upcoming season in Ferguson, Cheesman, Sophine Kevorkian (USD) and Gabbi Ceballos (TCU).
The veteran seniors include Baker, Humbyrd and Tori Gillis, who all enter their final season with the Tigers this year.
Kevorkian, Ferguson, Hermannsdottir, Cheesman, Jocelyn Ollivierre, Angelina Thoreson and Sage Glover make up the junior class.
Thoreson returns to the pitch this year after sitting out of the 2023 season due to injury.
The sophomores on the squad are Ceballos, Danielle Shannon, Kelsey Major, Audur Scheving, Caley Swierenga, Andrea Iljkic, Ava Galligan, Brielyn Knowles and Alyson Campbell.
The freshmen class includes Riley MacDonald, Amy Smith, Annaleigh Bruser, Katelyn Holt, Emerson DeLuca, Ava Amsden, Aurora Gaines, Senai Rogers, Sarah Stadler and Natalie Dvorakova.
The addition of Scheving to the squad brings LSU’s total to four internationals on the roster. She is the second player to become a Tiger from Reykjavik, Iceland, along with Hermannsdottir. Other countries represented on the squad are Sweden and Czechia.
The full 2024 LSU Soccer Roster can be found here.
The 2024 Schedule
LSU officially kicks off the new season against South Alabama on Thursday, August 15 in Mobile. The Tigers schedule this year features eight matches inside the LSU Soccer Stadium.
The Tigers home opener is set for Sunday, August 25th against Arizona State. The squad will also welcome Utah, UL-Lafayette, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Auburn and Texas to Baton Rouge before concluding home play against Vanderbilt on Thursday, October 24.
LSU will travel to face University of Massachusetts Lowell, Old Dominion, San Francisco, University of California Davis, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Texas A&M and will close out the regular season at Missouri on Sunday, October 27.
The squad will compete against 10 SEC opponents throughout the regular season this year, including the newest league members Texas and Oklahoma.
View the full 2024 LSU Soccer Schedule with match times here.
Follow The Tigers
Stay up to date with all things LSU Soccer by following our team’s social media channels @LSUsoccer on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.