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Soccer Takes on No. 3 Seed Texas in SEC Tournament Quarterfinals

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Soccer Takes on No. 3 Seed Texas in SEC Tournament Quarterfinals

PENSACOLA, Fla. – The 11th-seeded LSU Soccer team (9-7-3, 4-5-2 SEC) will take on the sixth-seeded Texas Longhorns (13-3-2, 6-3-1 SEC) in the quarterfinals of the 2024 SEC Tournament on Tuesday, November 5 at 2 p.m. CT at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex.

“We’re ready to get back out there and play against Texas tomorrow. It’s another team that we faced earlier this season and didn’t get the result that we wanted, so it’s a chance to redeem ourselves,” said head coach Sian Hudson. “The team has found momentum over the course of our last few games, so the plan is just to continue to build on that. We’re going to do everything we can to get through to the next round and continue our tournament run.”

The Tigers advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating No. 6 seed Auburn in the first round by a score of 2-1 on Sunday. Auburn entered the match ranked No. 24 nationally, marking the Tigers first top-25 victory since No. 22 Georgia in 2023 and Hudson’s first victory over Auburn since beginning her tenure at LSU. It was also LSU’s first victory over Auburn since 2010. 

The winner of Tuesday’s match between the Tigers and the Longhorns will advance to the semifinals at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday, November 7 and take on the winner of the Georgia and Arkansas match.

Alex Perlman (play by play) and Marion Crowder (analyst) will call Tuesday’s action live on SEC Network. Fans can also watch via the ESPN app.

All tournament matches will be aired on SEC Network. The bracket with match dates and times can be found here. The watch link and live stats link can be found here

The 2024 SEC Soccer Tournament will run from November 3 – November 10 at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex in Pensacola, Florida. The championship match is slated for Sunday, November 10 at 1:30 p.m. CT.

Tournament History

This year marks the Tigers 20th program appearance in the SEC Tournament and Hudson’s fifth consecutive appearance. LSU currently owns a tournament record of 12-12-9 as they look to make a run to the conference championship on Sunday. 

Seven of LSU’s appearances in the SEC Tournament have been in the semifinals and two in the finals, with one conference championship title under their belt.

The LSU Tigers have secured one SEC Championship title in program history in 2018. This year marks head coach Sian Hudson’s fifth consecutive appearance in the conference tournament. 

LSU’s year-by-year appearances: 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.

The Opponent

Texas will enter Tuesday afternoon’s match against LSU with a 4-1-1 all-time record, but none of the previous six matchups have occurred at a neutral site. UT has scored 3-or-more goals in all four of the Longhorns’ wins over the Tigers.

Following the Longhorns’ 3-1 win at LSU in October 2024, Texas is now 10-5-2 all-time against LSU. 

Texas head coach Angela Kelly will take the pitch for the Longhorns’ contest on Tuesday with a 13-8-3 (.604) all-time record in SEC Soccer Tournament matches during her tenure (2000-11) at the helm of the Tennessee Volunteers. Additionally, Kelly had won four (2002, 2003, 2005, 2008) SEC Tournament titles while coaching in Knoxville, Tenn.

A Kelly-led squad is 1-1-1 all time against LSU during the SEC Soccer Tournament, but this year marks her first with the Longhorns. 

Texas will make their first postseason conference appearance in the SEC on Tuesday, as a win would mark the first time in program history that Texas won the first postseason conference tournament match in its first try.

Tiger Notables

LSU officially kicked off SEC Tournament competition in the first round last Sunday with a win over sixth-seeded Auburn. The Tigers will look to continue their postseason run in their next match on Tuesday. 

The Tigers were one of the top 12 programs in the league to make the conference tournament, which is slated to finish on Sunday, November 11.

LSU has scored 32 goals on the year across 12 different goal scorers. 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 all found the back of the net for the Tigers this year. 

Five players even earned their spot on the scoresheet for the first team as Ferguson, Ceballos, Iljkic, Shannon and Amsden have all scored their first career goals at LSU this season. 

Hermannsdottir leads the team with eight goals on the year, while Ava Galligan follows with five. 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 246 shots on the year, with 114 of those being on target. Galligan has taken the most shots for the Tigers with 35. Hermannsdottir has the most shots on target with 19. Baker, Glover, Shannon, Smith, Amsden, Iljkic, Ceballos and Thoreson have also been pivotal on the attack, each with 10 or more shots on the year. 

Audur Scheving and Sophine Kevorkian have been huge in between the posts for the Tigers this season. Scheving has recorded 54 saves and three shutouts for the Tigers in her first year and ranks amongst the top-10 players in the conference currently in shutouts (9th) and saves (6th).

Kevorkian, a junior transfer from San Diego, started in the squad’s last three matches and earned two clean sheets. She totaled an impressive nine saves, a season high, in her first start against Vanderbilt and currently owns 14 saves on the year. 

The Tigers rank in the top-10 in the SEC in goals (9th) and saves (6th) and average 1.68 goals per game compared to 1.53 from their opponents, while also averaging about 12.9 shots per game.

All-SEC Tigers

Ida Hermannsdottir and Sydney Cheesman represent the Tigers in this year’s postseason SEC Awards. The junior duo of Hermannsdottir and Cheesman both earned Third Team All-SEC Honors for their efforts on the pitch this year. The award marks the second for Hermannsdottir, as she was named to the SEC All-Freshman team in 2022, and first for Cheesman in the Purple and Gold.

The SEC Awards are voted on by all 16 head coaches in the conference. 

Hermannsdottir has been pivotal in the attack for LSU as she leads the squad in goals with eight scored this year. The midfielder from Reykjavik, Iceland, is in her third year with the Tigers and now owns 19 goals in her career at LSU. She has played in 18 matches this season, earning the start in 16 of those, and has tallied the most shots on target with 19 in 33 shot attempts. 

Cheesman is a defender out of Lafayette, Colorado, who transferred to LSU this year 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. 

Since coming to LSU, Cheesman has been a key component of the Tigers defensive unit, starting at center back in 17 out of 18 matches this year and tallying 1,386 minutes. Early on in the season, she also played a major role in the attack, creating multiple scoring opportunities for the team with a team-high four assists. 

Hermannsdottir and Cheesman will play major roles in the Tigers journey in the 2024 SEC Tournament, which continues in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. 

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 welcomed four new transfers this season in Ferguson, Cheesman, Sophine Kevorkian (USD) and Gabbi Ceballos (TCU).

The veteran seniors include Baker, Humbyrd and Tori Gillis, who are all in their final season with the Tigers.

Kevorkian, Ferguson, Hermannsdottir, Cheesman, Jocelyn Ollivierre, Angelina Thoreson and Sage Glover make up the junior class. 

Thoreson returned 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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