BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU Soccer Team (7-4-1, 2-2-0 SEC) will host No. 16 Auburn (10-1-1, 2-1-1 SEC) for a battle between the Tigers on Friday, October 4th at 7 p.m. CT inside the LSU Soccer Stadium.
“We’re really excited to get back home in front of our home fans, especially for a Friday evening game. We’re hoping for a massive crowd to pack the stands for a battle of the Tigers,” said head coach Sian Hudson. “We have struggled in recent games with Auburn, so we’re definitely looking to put on a performance. We know in the SEC anyone can beat anyone, so our focus is on getting these next three points. It’s a good opportunity for us to beat a ranked team at home.”
On Auburn, Hudson said “They are a team that doesn’t concede very many goals, so we’re going to have to work hard on the attack to create opportunities. I think that’s been better for us in recent games. We also just want to continue the theme of being better on the defensive end of the ball. I have to credit Audi (Scheving), who had a fantastic game against Mississippi State, and our backline – Jazmin Ferguson, Tori Gillis, Sydney Cheesman, Jocelyn Ollivierre. The amount of growth that they’ve shown has been tremendous.”
Friday’s competition in Baton Rouge will be streamed on SECN+. The watch link and live stats link can be found here.
Promotions
It is Greek Night at the pitch on Friday as the Tigers will donate $125 to the sorority and fraternity who bring the most people to the match for their respective philanthropy cause.
The first 250 fans to arrive at the stadium will receive a free LSU Soccer shirt featuring this year’s seniors. The shirt is white in order to help promote a white out in the stadium.
Gates to the soccer stadium will open at 6 p.m. CT. All match-by-match promotions for the year can be found here.
The Opponent
Auburn leads the all-time series over LSU with a record of 21-8-5 while owning a record of 7-5-2 when playing in Baton Rouge. The last time the two Tigers faced off was in Auburn last year, where the home Tigers came out victorious 3-0.
Auburn currently ranks No. 16 nationally in the United Soccer Coaches poll and are coming off a 3-0 win over Ole Miss, their second conference win of the year. The Orange and Blue Tigers have an overall record of 10-1-1 on the year and are 2-1-1 in SEC play. They rank third in the conference with seven points.
Auburn has struggled to find success in SEC road matches as of late as the Tigers are 2-10-4 away from home over the last four conference seasons.
The visiting Tigers have not dropped a result to LSU since 2010, and have not been scored upon by LSU since 2016, but playing in Baton Rouge has not been an easy task for Auburn as it has scored just once in its last three trips to the Bayou.
Auburn has scored 37 goals on the year and has only allowed six through 12 matches this year. The Tigers have recorded 213 shots, with 100 of those being on target, ranking the fifth most in the conference. They’ve kept a clean sheet in 10 matches this year.
Tiger Notables
LSU will look for their first victory over Auburn since 2010 this Friday night. The Purple & Gold Tigers are 0-3-2 in their last five matches against Auburn in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers are 2-0-0 at home throughout conference play thus far as they will fight to defend their home turf on Friday.
The Tigers are 7-4-1 (2-2-0 SEC) on the year and have marked wins over South Alabama (3-0), UMass Lowell (W, 3-0), Old Dominion (2-1), UL-Lafayette (3-1), San Francisco (4-1), Ole Miss (1-0) and Oklahoma (3-1), a draw against Utah (1-1) and losses to Arizona State (5-2), UC Davis (3-4), Arkansas (0-1) and Miss. State (0-2).
LSU has scored 25 goals on the year. Ida Hermannsdóttir, Mollie Baker, Jazmin Ferguson, Angelina Thoreson, Ava Galligan, Andrea Iljkic, Amy Smith, Kelsey Major, Sage Glover, Gabbi Ceballos, Danielle Shannon and Ava Amsden have found themselves on the scoresheet.
On that same note, LSU has seen 12 different goal scorers through the regular season so far, with five players scoring the firsts of their career. Ferguson, Ceballos, Iljkic, Shannon and Amsden have all scored their first career goals at LSU this season.
Hermannsdottir leads the team with seven goals on the year, while Ava Galligan follows with four.
The Tigers have recorded 16 assists across nine different players so far this year, with junior Sydney Cheesman leading the way. The UNC transfer has been pivotal in set pieces for LSU, recording a team high four assists on the year.
Overall, LSU has taken 190 shots on the year, with 87 of those being on target. Galligan leads the way with 29 shot attempts, while Hermannsdottir is just shortly behind with 28. The forward from Iceland also leads the SOG category with 16. Baker, Glover, Shannon, Smith, Iljkic, Ceballos and Thoreson have also been pivotal in attacking and have all tallied 10 or more shots on the year.
Audur Scheving, the sophomore from Iceland, has recorded 33 saves and three shutouts for the Tigers in her first year.
The Icelandic duo of Hermannsdottir and Scheving both rank amongst the top-10 players in the conference currently in goals scored (7) and saves (33).
LSU sits in fifth in the overall SEC standings with six points. The Tigers rank in the top-10 in the SEC in goals (25), assists (16), saves (34) and shots (190).
The Tigers average 2.08 goals per game compared to 1.42 from their opponents, and averages about 15.8 shots per game.
Hermannsdottir, Scheving, Cheesman and Shannon are the only players to start in every match for LSU this year.
Last Time On The Pitch
LSU fell to No. 9 Mississippi State on the road by a final score of 2-0 last Sunday night.
The Tigers were defensively tested in the first half, and for the majority of the match, as State took 12 shots, with four of those being on target. LSU keeper Audi Scheving tallied three saves in the first half, not allowing the Bulldogs to take the early lead.
LSU looked to find their momentum through the first half but were unable to record a shot on goal through the first 45. The first half ended scoreless, with neither team able to find the advantage as the Tigers held off the Bulldogs.
Mississippi State struck first to start the second half. Ally Perry got a shot off her right foot that bounced off the left post and into the goal for the Bulldogs in the 51st minute. She was assisted by Aitana Martinez-Montoya and Illana Izquierdo.
The Tigers continued to battle in the second half, but struggled to find opportunity on the other end of the field. Sophomore midfielder Gabbi Ceballos took the first and only chance for LSU in the 65th minute, but the shot was off target.
The Bulldogs once again found the back of the net with just under three minutes remaining in the match. Ally Perry tallied her second goal of the night with a banger to the lower right that just got past LSU keeper Scheving. The goal by Perry extended the home team lead in the 87th minute.
No. 9 Mississippi State was able to defend their home turf in Starkville, defeating LSU by a final score of 2-0. Despite the loss, Scheving had a big performance in between the posts for the Tigers, finishing the match with six saves. She now has 33 saves on the year, amongst the best by any keeper in the conference.
SEC 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.
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.
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.
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