After a month at the top of the Southeastern Conference, the LSU soccer team will have to play catch up in the league for the first time this season.
The Tigers (9-5-2, 5-2-1 SEC) were the conference frontrunners until they suffered back-to-back losses to Ole Miss and Florida last weekend, dropping them into a three-way tie for fourth place. LSU’s first chance to climb back up the SEC ladder comes tonight when it hosts Georgia (10-5-1, 3-4-1 SEC) at the LSU Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m.
“It was a rough weekend, we all know that,” said senior goalkeeper Megan Kinneman. “But we still have an opportunity to do what we want to do this season. We’ve flushed those games and are trying to focus on these last three, especially Georgia on Friday.”
The Tigers experienced a crippling drought during the weekend as they were unable to score a goal in either game. Freshman forward Summer Clarke, who leads LSU with eight goals, said the offense executed well but struggled to finish chances near the goal.
LSU will likely need to capitalize on every chance it gets against the stingy Bulldog defense. Georgia senior goalkeeper Caitlin Woody is allowing only 0.73 goals per game this season.
“[Georgia is] always feisty with us, so I think it’s going to be about composure and keeping our heads in it,” said senior defender Alex Ramsey. “We have to play our game, which is the feistiness up top, moving the ball and tiring the other team out.”
The Tigers will be without the services of freshman defender Megan Lee, who received a call to join the New Zealand Women’s National Team for training camp and two friendly matches next week. Megan Lee played valuable minutes since she returned from a sprained ankle in mid-September, but LSU coach Brian Lee said his scheme won’t change in her absence.
“Megan is certainly a kid we think is one of the top-level youth players in the world,” Brian Lee said. “But the kids are filling in for her, and they know what we’re looking for and what they need to do.”
Unless LSU draws a home game in the NCAA Tournament, tonight’s match against Georgia will be the last time the Tigers’ senior class plays on its home field. Ramsey and Kinneman both said they will miss the support of the fans once their time at LSU is over.
“It’s coming quick, and it’s kind of crazy,” Kinneman said. “It doesn’t feel like it’s going to be my last game. I just want to enjoy the last time out here with these great LSU fans and the team we have this year.”
Following last weekend’s losses, the Tigers dropped to No. 63 in the Ratings Percentage Index, which measures a team’s strength of schedule. The RPI’s top-64 teams at the end of conference championships receive bids to the NCAA Tournament, and LSU continues to flirt with the cut-off number.
Despite falling to Ole Miss and Florida, LSU’s three remaining games present opportunities to drastically increase its RPI. The Tigers wrap up the regular season with two of the SEC’s top three teams in Kentucky and Texas A&M, which sport RPIs of 26 and 40, respectively.
No player or coach was happy with LSU’s mentality during its last two losses, according to Brian Lee. Ramsey heaped some of the blame upon herself, vowing to turn things around in tonight’s pivotal game against Georgia.
“After Ole Miss scored [its] first goal, we had our heads down,” Ramsey said. “It’s really up to me in the midfield to bring the team back up again. I take some of that on my part, and we’re going to work on that.”