Soccer Punches Ticket to SEC Semifinal; Faces Mississippi St. Thursday
PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 5 seed and No. 23/25 nationally ranked LSU Soccer team (12-5-3) is moving on in Pensacola. With a 2-0 victory over No. 4-seed Tennessee on Tuesday night at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex, the Tigers advanced to the SEC Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2018 – the same season they went on to win the program’s lone SEC title.
LSU extended their unbeaten streak to nine matches last night, going 7-0-2 in that span, and earned the team’s first shutout of the tournament. With the win, LSU is now one of four remaining teams in the tournament as they advanced to face No. 8-seed Mississippi State in Thursday’s semifinal at 3:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network. The winner will move on to Sunday’s championship match to face either No. 2-seed Vanderbilt or No. 3-seed Georgia.
This year marks LSU’s 21st overall appearance in the SEC Tournament in program history, with this year marking their eighth appearance in the semifinals. LSU is 14-13-9 all-time when competing in the tournament, while the program owns one championship title in 2018.
Last Time On The Pitch
Graduate student Morgan Witz and senior Ida Hermannsdottir supplied the goals for the Tigers, while freshman Sariyah Bailey earned a two-assist performance to power the attack.
After a scoreless first half that saw Tennessee outshoot LSU 7-5, the Tigers came out blazing in the second 45. Just 46 seconds into the half, Bailey slipped a perfectly weighted ball into space for Witz, who calmly finished in the bottom-left corner to give LSU a 1-0 lead. The goal was Witz’s fourth of the season and her second in as many SEC Tournament matches.
Two minutes later, the Tigers doubled their advantage. Bailey delivered another dangerous pass into the box that found Ava Galligan, whose shot forced a deflection off Tennessee goalkeeper Cayden Norris. Hermannsdottir was there to clean it up, burying her seventh goal of the year and the 26th of her career – moving her into eighth all-time in LSU scoring history.
From there, LSU locked in defensively. Junior goalkeeper Audur Scheving collected three saves on the night to secure her fourth clean sheet of the season and lower her goals-against average to 0.84. While the Vols outshot the Tigers 18-13, LSU’s back line held firm and denied Tennessee any chance at a late rally.
The Opponent
The Bulldogs are the first No. 8 seed to advance to the SEC Tournament’s semifinals since 2018, and this marks their third consecutive time advancing that far after having just one SEC Tournament victory prior to 2023.
Mississippi State eliminated No. 4 Arkansas in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. It was State’s third top-10 win of the year, which was as many as the program had in its entire history prior to 2025.
The match will be LSU and Mississippi State’s first meeting of the year, as they did not meet in conference play during the regular season. The Tigers are 22-4-3 all-time over the Bulldogs and have never played them in the SEC Tournament.
State last appeared in the national rankings in October, when they were ranked No. 17 by Top Drawer Soccer and No. 25 by United Soccer Coaches.
They are led by Ally Perry with eight goals, seven assists, 23 points and 64 shots on the season. They went 5-4-1 in conference play this year, finishing the regular season in the eighth spot.
Season Stats
LSU has gained momentum at the right time just ahead of the NCAA postseason, securing two tournament wins over Auburn and Tennessee in the first two rounds of the SEC Tournament.
The Tigers have taken over the beach during their time in the tournament, leading in goals scored (5), points (17) and assists (7), outscoring all 11 teams to appear in this year’s tournament thus far. They are also one of only four teams to tally a shutout in tournament play.
Morgan Witz has the most goals by a player in the tournament (2), along with Kentucky’s Catherine Rapp, while Sariyah Bailey owns the most assists (2) by a single player throughout the beach action thus far.
The Tigers concluded the regular season on October 26 with a win over Florida, securing a fifth place finish in the SEC, their highest under Sian Hudson. The Tigers finished the regular season with a 10-5-3 overall record, a 5-2-3 mark in SEC play and a home record of 6-1-1 in 2025.
LSU was one of eight SEC teams who ranked in the Top 40 of the Oct. 27 RPI rankings entering tournament action and have now jumped to No. 21 following their last two wins.
The Tigers entered the tournament amongst the top-10 teams in conference play this year, finishing the regular season ranked second in goals (20), second in points (57), third in assists (17), fifth in saves (38) and sixth in shots (125).
Junior forward Ava Galligan leads the squad with nine goals scored this season while Hermannsdottir follows with seven. Bailey with six and Witz with five. All have been pivotal to the LSU offense, but there have been multiple Tigers shine on the pitch this year.
LSU scored their most goals in SEC play since 2011 this year with 20, and this year has seen 13 different goal scorers across a total of 42 goals scored this season.
Other goal scorers on the year for LSU include Jazmin Ferguson, Gabbi Ceballos, Amy Smith and Gadea Blanco Gonzalez all with two each, while Sydney Cheesman, Kelsey Major, Senai Rogers, Ryann Denecour and Daniela Hellin have tallied one for the Tigers.
Sophine Kevorkian and Audi Scheving have split time as keeper for LSU this year, both finding their own success in between the posts. Kevorkian has appeared in 14 matches for the Tigers this year, tallying a 1.20 goals-against average (GAAVG), 38 saves and three shutouts.
Scheving earned the start in the squad’s last match against Tennessee in the tournament, adding three more saves to her resume this year. She owns 26 saves this season with three clean sheets and a GAAVG of 0.84.
The LSU backline of Jocelyn Ollivierre, Jazmin Ferguson, Sydney Cheesman and Kelsey Major have held it down during the last stretch of SEC play for the Tigers, tallying the most minutes of action.
Ferguson, Hermannsdottir, Ollivierre and Major are the only Tigers to earn the start in all 20 matches for LSU thus far.
Tigers in the Rankings
The LSU Soccer program has returned to the national rankings for the first time in four seasons. The Tigers entered this week’s polls ranked No. 23 by Top Drawer Soccer and No. 25 by United Soccer Coaches, marking their first appearance in the national rankings since September 2021.
The rankings mark LSU’s first appearance in the TopDrawerSoccer poll since 2018 and its first United Soccer Coaches top-25 ranking since 2021. The last time LSU appeared in the national polls, they were ranked No. 18 by Top Drawer Soccer and No. 24 by United Soccer Coaches.
The recognition came off the team’s SEC Tournament win over Auburn on November 2.
Throughout the 2025 season, the Tigers have earned multiple results against nationally respected opponents and have positioned themselves amongst the top of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). LSU earned their highest finish in the SEC under Head Coach Sian Hudson this year (fifth), while also tallying their highest finish since 2013 when the conference moved to overall standings.
LSU’s return to the rankings signals continued momentum under Hudson’s leadership in her sixth season at the helm as the Tigers look to build on their recent success and make a statement throughout the remainder of the season.
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