PENSACOLA, Fla. –After an exciting upset against No. 23 Auburn in the first round at the beach, 11th-seeded LSU Soccer (5-9-5, 2-4-4 SEC) is set to face third-seeded and No. 8 Alabama (14-4-0, 7-3-0 SEC) in SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday, November 10.
The quarterfinal action between the Tigers and the Tide is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex and will be broadcast live on SEC Network.
LSU enters Tuesday’s contest riding a four-match unbeaten streak. The Tigers advanced to the quarterfinals after junior Ava Amsden secured the lone goal of the match off of a penalty kick in the 21st minute.
The goal marked Amsden’s fourth successful penalty kick of the season, keeping her perfect from the spot. LSU played efficient defense, holding Auburn to only nine shots compared to LSU’s 14. Audur Scheving played 90 minutes in between the posts, tallying two saves to add another shutout to LSU’s season.
The matchup with No. 8 Alabama sets the stage for a rematch after the Crimson Tide battled the Tigers to a 1-1 draw in the first exhibition match of the season. A win on Tuesday would send LSU to the SEC Tournament semifinals for the second year in a row. The semifinal round will feature the winner of LSU and Tennessee and the winner of Georgia and South Carolina.
SEC Tournament History
This year marks LSU’s 22nd overall appearance in the SEC Tournament in program history. LSU is 15-13-10 all-time when competing in the tournament, while the program owns one championship title in 2018.
The program’s lone SEC title came in a double overtime win over Arkansas in the 2018 SEC Tournament Championship game when the Tigers won 4-1 in penalty kicks to make history. LSU went down in the SEC record book as the lowest seed to win the conference tournament as a seven seed alongside the seventh-seeded Auburn team from 2011, plus being the first team to ever win SEC title after playing in the opening round since the tournament expanded in 2012.
Last season, the Tigers had their second most successful SEC Tournament under head coach, Sian Hudson. The LSU soccer squad finished as the SEC Tournament runner-up, after losing 8-7 in penalty kicks during the championship game.
This year marks the Tigers sixth consecutive appearance in the tournament. LSU has now appeared in the SEC Tournament every year in the Hudson era as the team will look to make a run.
Season Stats
Senior Ava Galligan leads the Tigers offensively through 19 matches this season, pacing the team with seven goals, as well as a team-best 55 shots with 22 of those shots being on target. Galligan's total shots and shots-on-goal both rank within the top-10 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 five goals on the year with Hlynsdottir owning three and Ono, Bailey and Smith owning two on the year.
Ono has been the most successful in assists, recording a team-high five assists on the season. Those five assists rank in the top-10 in the SEC.
Defensively, senior goalkeeper Audur Scheving has started 18 of LSU’s 19 matches and has made 47 saves while helping the Tigers record three shutouts. Scheving has also logged 1642 minutes in goal this season.
As a team, LSU has scored 26 goals on 246 shots and has earned 76 corner kicks through 19 matches.
Looking Ahead
With a win in Tuesday’s match, the Tigers would face the winner of the Georgia and South Carolina game in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Thursday, November 12 at 3:30 p.m. CT.
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