Soccer Advances to Second Round of NCAA Tournament; Takes Down HCU, 4-1
BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU Soccer team (14-5-4) booked their spot in the next round of the NCAA Tournament with a 4-1 win over Houston Christian (12-9-2) on Friday night at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
The win marks the second time under head coach Sian Hudson that the Tigers have advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and the first since 2022. With tonight’s win, LSU’s unbeaten streak dating back to September now sits at 11 consecutive matches.
At 14 wins on the season and counting, this LSU team has now tied the second-most wins in a single season in program history and sit one win shy of tying the program record of 15 wins.
“We got the most important thing and that’s the win,” said Hudson. “We knew coming back from our four-game stretch at the beach that we were going to be carrying a little bit of fatigue coming into tonight, and I think you could see that in our quality in front of the goal, I am so proud of this team. We knew tonight would be difficult, but we wanted to play on Friday night with Tiger Nation in full force. It was great to have the chance to come out here tonight and play at home in front of thousands of our fans and we’re just excited to be moving on to the second round for only the second time in my time here.”
The Tigers opened the scoring in the 26th minute with a fantastic solo goal from forward Sariyah Bailey before doubling the lead in the 50th minute with a left-footed strike from midfielder Gabbi Ceballos from eight yards out. The Huskies grabbed a goal back in the 68th minute as Ella Remy capitalized on a defensive error to put the ball into the back of the LSU net.
LSU responded with a goal to make it 3-1 when Bailey bagged her second goal of the night with a left-footed goal from inside the six yard box. The score was stretched to 4-1 only 17 seconds later as midfielder Ida Hermansdottir finished a strong team sequence with a shot into the bottom-right corner from 15 yards out.
The match was dominated by LSU from the opening minute. The Tigers spent the opening 25 minutes almost exclusively past midfield and pressuring the HCU defense, forcing saves from goalkeeper Emmy McKeon in the 1st, 6th, and 22nd minutes.
The breakthrough came through in the 26th minute. Bailey received the ball on the left flank, charged into the box and shoved off a defender before dribbling by another and slotting a ground shot past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net from seven yards out to make it 1-0 on the night.
The remainder of the first half saw LSU’s Audur Scheving pick up her lone save of the night in the 35th minute as she caught a long but powerful free kick from HCU. McKeon picked up her fourth save in the 37th minute to cap off a first half that ended 1-0 in favor of the hosts.
LSU came out of half time with energy and took only five minutes to extend the lead to 2-0. After a cluster in the box, Ceballos dispossessed an HCU defender, cut inside to go past another defender and slotted home a left-footed strike from eight yards out into the near-post corner. The goal took the midfielder’s tally to four this season, a single-season high for the San Antonio, Texas native.
The action slowed down for the next 15 minutes but a spark from the Huskies in the 67th minute revived the away team as the lead was cut to 2-1. Remy dispossessed an LSU defender inside her box and calmly finished her chance to give the visitors a chance to start the comeback.
That comeback chance was denied in the 80th minute as Bailey grabbed her second goal of the night and made it 3-1. Following a miscleared cross into the box, Bailey pounced on the loose ball and struck it first-time with her left foot and drilled the ball from six yards out into the bottom left corner. The goal was Bailey’s eighth of the season and marked the second time that the freshman has scored a brace for her team this year, the other coming in LSU’s 4-1 win over Texas A&M last month.
“All credit to Sariyah Bailey, she’s had an immense freshman season,” added Hudson. “She put the team on her back tonight with two great goals.”
The Tigers pressed on the ensuing kickoff and were rewarded with their fourth goal of the night. Midfielder Ava Amsden intercepted a ball at midfield and played a through ball to Hermansdottir, who took a touch to skip by her defender and then finished with a delicate chip shot from 12 yards out. Hermansdottir’s goal now takes her to nine this year, a new season-high in her final season with the Tigers. The assist was Amsden’s third on the year.
LSU outshot HCU by a margin of 29-4 and won the possession battle by a dominant 67% to HCU’s 33%. Outside of a defensive error, the Huskies did not possess much of an attacking threat in what was a dominant night from LSU’s midfield and defense.
LSU will return to action in the second round of the NCAA Tournament when they take on No. 21 Iowa on Thursday, November 20 in Nashville, Tennessee. The winner of LSU-Iowa will take on the winner of Vanderbilt-Clemson in the third round on Sunday, November 23.
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