BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU Soccer team (4-9-3, 2-4-2 SEC) will return home to face Mississippi State (8-2-5, 2-1-5 SEC) on Sunday, October 25 at 2 p.m. CT inside the LSU Soccer Stadium in the last home match of the regular season. The Tigers and Bulldogs will meet for the 31st time in program history with televised action happening on SEC Network.
LSU will look to stay in the win column after a 4-3 comeback victory against Texas A&M in their last match. The Tigers will look to build on that momentum to secure their spot in the SEC tournament.
AJ Ricketts and Avarie Howard will be covering the action between the Tigers and Bulldogs in Baton Rouge. Live stats and streaming links for the action are available here.
Tickets to attend the match will be available here.
GAME PROMOTION
Sunday’s match will recognize this year’s seniors of Ava Galligan, Brielyn Knowles, Audur Scheving, Emma Alvord and Allie Fryer. There will be a free cup giveaway that features the seniors.
Tomorrow’s match will also be the “Pups at the Pitch” match where fans are allowed to bring leashed dogs into the LSU Soccer Stadium. LSU Soccer will hold a dog costume contest at half time, with the winner of the contest receiving a Raising Cane’s prize pack.
THE MATCHUP
LSU owns a dominating 23-4-3 record against Mississippi State with Sunday marking the 31st time the two teams will meet. The last time the Bulldogs and Tigers faced off was in 2025, when the Tigers secured a 3-1 victory in the semi-finals of the SEC Tournament. Two of LSU’s three goals in that match were scored by current players Ava Galligan and Sariyah Bailey.
Mississippi State is led offensively by forward Hailey Johnson and Kati Anne Shepherd, who have provided consistent scoring production throughout the 2026 season. Laila Murillo has also emerged as a key scoring threat for the Bulldogs, contributing five goals through the first 15 matches. The trio has helped lead Mississippi State’s offensive efforts, combining for 15 goals and 38 points.
The Bulldogs have scored 25 goals through their first 15 matches while allowing 12, averaging 1.67 goals per game and limiting opponents to 0.80 goals per game. Mississippi State has recorded seven shutouts, including 3-0 and 4-0 victories over South Alabama and Southern Miss, respectively, along with scoreless draws against Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina and Auburn. The Bulldogs most recently played Auburn to a 0-0 draw on Oct. 18 and enter their next match with an 8-2-5 overall record and a 2-1-5 mark in SEC play.
SEC & MAC HERMANN WATCHLIST
LSU Soccer began the 2026 season with five Tigers named to the 2026 SEC Soccer Preseason Watchlist and two forwards recognized on the United Soccer Coaches 2026 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Players to Watch List.
Senior forward Ava Galligan was the headliner on both lists after a standout 2025 campaign that helped lead LSU to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in program history. The Ashburn, Virginia, native led the Tigers with 11 goals and four assists for 26 points last season, including six game-winning goals. Galligan earned First Team All-SEC and United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region honors following the 2025 season.
Joining Galligan on the Hermann Trophy Players to Watch List is fifth-year forward Allie Fryer, who enters her first season in Baton Rouge after transferring from BYU. The Spanish Fork, Utah, native brings 30 career goals and extensive postseason experience to the Tigers' attack.
The Hermann Trophy Players to Watch List recognizes some of the nation's top returning forwards and serves as an early look at candidates for the prestigious MAC Hermann Trophy, awarded annually to the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer National Player of the Year.
Galligan and Fryer are joined on the SEC Preseason Watchlist by sophomore forward Sariyah Bailey, senior defender Kelsey Major and senior goalkeeper Audur Scheving. Bailey earned Third Team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman Team honors as a freshman in 2025 after making an immediate impact during LSU's historic postseason run.
Major returned for her senior season as a key piece of the Tigers' back line after starting every match for LSU in 2025, while Scheving entered her senior campaign after recording 42 saves and six wins last season.
The five Tigers named to the SEC watchlist are part of a 75-player group selected from across the conference, while LSU's inclusion of two forwards on the Hermann Trophy list highlights the experience and firepower returning to the Tigers' attack in 2026.
STAT LEADERS
Senior Ava Galligan leads the Tigers offensively through 16 matches this season, pacing the team with seven goals, as well as a team-best 47 shots. Those 43 shots are tied for fifth most in the SEC.
Senior Allie Fryer, juniors Ava Amsden, Linka Ono, Amy Smith and Senai Rogers, sophomore Sariyah Bailey and freshmen Mia Conard, Alexia Hansen and Berglind Hlynsdottir have each found the back of the net this season, with Fryer and Amsden converting LSU’s only penalty kicks of the year.
Amsden follows Galligan with four goals on the year with Hlynsdottir owning three and Ono and Smith owning two on the year.
Defensively, senior goalkeeper Audur Scheving has started fifteen of LSU’s sixteen matches and has made 40 saves while helping the Tigers record one shutout. Scheving has also logged 1372 minutes in goal this season.
As a team, LSU has scored 27 goals on 205 shots and has earned 70 corner kicks through sixteen matches. The Tigers have been especially disciplined in the attacking third.
LOOKING AHEAD
To close out the regular season, the soccer squad will travel to face Missouri on Sunday, November 1 at 12 p.m. CT on SECN+.
Stay up to date with all things LSU Soccer by following our team’s social media channels @LSUsoccer on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.