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LSU SOCCER TO FACE RIVAL AUBURN IN SEC TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND
BATON ROUGE – The No.
2-seeded LSU soccer team will travel to the Orange Beach Sportsplex in
Orange Beach, Ala., on Wednesday afternoon where it kicks off the
postseason with a match against SEC West rival and No. 7-seeded Auburn
at noon CT at the 2011 SEC Women’s Soccer Tournament.
LSU
(12-6-1, 8-3 SEC) and Auburn (11-6-2, 5-5-1) are set to square off in
the opening match of what will surely be the most competitive SEC
Tournament in the league’s history as all eight teams in the field open
the event ranked among the Top 50 programs in the NCAA’s latest Ratings
Percentage Index.
The winner of Wednesday’s match will
advance to the SEC Tournament semifinal on Friday at 5 p.m. CT against
either the No. 3-seeded Tennessee Lady Volunteers or the No. 6-seeded
Kentucky Wildcats.
LSU is one of just two teams that have
advanced to the semifinal round of the SEC Tournament in each of the
last four seasons as the Tigers join the Florida Gators as the most
consistent programs with their effort in Orange Beach during that time.
The Tigers are 4-1-4 in nine SEC Tournament matches since 2007.
The
Tigers will ride a wave of momentum to Orange Beach for this year’s SEC
Tournament after winning their fourth SEC Western Division championship
in five seasons and finishing in second place in the final SEC
standings for the third time in four seasons with their performance in
2011. With an 8-3 mark and 24 points in league play, LSU posted its
second-best conference record in program history this fall.
LSU
actually owns an unbeaten 2-0-1 mark versus Auburn in three previous
SEC Tournament matches as the Tigers pitched a 1-0 shutout against
their division rival in their last postseason contest in the semifinal
round in 2009 en route to their first appearance in the championship
final.
LSU is actually the only No. 8 seed in tournament
history to defeat the No. 1 seed in the opening round as it defeated
Auburn by a 1-0 margin in their first postseason meeting in 2002. The
teams also played to a 2-2 draw in the opening round in 2007 before LSU
won a 4-2 decision in a penalty kick shootout.
LSU saw its
four-game winning streak and five-game unbeaten streak against Auburn
snapped on Oct. 14 while suffering a 3-1 defeat in their last meeting
held at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
“This has certainly
been a banner season for the Southeastern Conference. We expect this to
be one of the most competitive tournaments this conference has seen in
its history,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “It shows the strength of
our league when any of the eight teams in the field can take home the
title, and each could earn an NCAA Tournament berth next week. We’ve
got a great challenge in front of us, and it starts tomorrow afternoon
against a very good Auburn team in the first round.”
Auburn
is 1-2-1 in four matches played since its home triumph over LSU on Oct.
14 as it secured seventh place in the final SEC standings with 16
points in league play. The team takes a two-game losing streak to
Orange Beach after falling to Tennessee (0-2) and Alabama (2-3) in its
last two outings.
Also qualifying for the 2011 SEC Women’s
Soccer Tournament is No. 1 seed and league champion South Carolina, No.
4 seed Florida, No. 5 seed Georgia and No. 8 seed Alabama.
Other
first-round matches during Wednesday’s competition at the Orange Beach
Sportsplex include Kentucky and Tennessee 2:30 p.m. CT, Alabama and
South Carolina at 5 p.m. and Florida and Georgia at 7:30 p.m. This
year’s SEC Tournament champion will be crowned following Sunday’s final
that will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT before a nationally-televised
audience on ESPNU.
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