If the Southeastern Conference tournament started today, the LSU soccer team would be on the outside looking in. 
But with five games remaining in the regular season, the 11th-place Tigers (5-8-2, 1-4-1 SEC) control their postseason destiny.
 LSU will look to improve its postseason resume and collect its second conference win of the season when the Tigers take on SEC East opponent Tennessee (6-7-1, 1-4-1 SEC) at 6 p.m. tonight at Regal Stadium. 
LSU and the Volunteers are currently tied for 11th place in the SEC standings with four points each. But a win for either club, coupled with an Auburn loss to SEC juggernaut Texas A&M on Friday, would bump the victor into sole possession of 10th place with four games remaining. 
Only 10 teams can earn spots in the conference tournament at season’s end, which means Friday’s match will likely have a postseason vibe between two very similar teams.  
“It’s absolutely a must-win for both clubs, 100 percent,” said LSU soccer coach Brian Lee. “Both of us are in a real similar situation. The last couple of years, [Tennessee’s] recruiting has been outstanding. But they would like to speed up the aging process the same way we would.”
Both the Tigers and Volunteers have sent many youngsters on the pitch. A combined 18 freshmen and sophomores have started matches for LSU and Tennessee this season, and both squads have experienced growing pains along the way. 
The Volunteers are coming off a 1-0 overtime loss to
Arkansas on Oct. 10, their fourth winless overtime match this season. The Tigers allowed a game-tying goal with less than two minutes in regulation against conference opponent Alabama on Oct. 9, and LSU ultimately lost a little more than three minutes into the overtime session. 
LSU sophomore forward Summer Clarke said the young Tigers must clean up their late-game miscues if they hope to be among the 10 clubs in the SEC tournament, which begins Nov. 3. 
“If we look back on the season, when set pieces are scored, it’s usually near the end on us,” Clarke said. “We’ll be up a goal, and they’ll score in the last
minute. I don’t know if it’s something to do with where we think we’ve won the game before it’s over, but we need to make sure we keep our heads in it for the whole 90 minutes.” 
Both youthful squads have had difficulties in tight games this season. Tennessee is 1-6 in games decided by one goal while LSU is a half game better at 1-5. 
Tigers’ junior midfielder Natalia Gomez-Junco, who’s scored two goals in the past three games, said better management on the field in tight matches could help the squad get some much-needed victories in the last five matches of the regular season. 
“If you think at the scores, there’s not really more than one or two goals difference,” Gomez-Junco said. “We have to manage better in those end-of-game situations and stay focused and don’t think we’ve won the game with five minutes left. It’s never won until the buzzer goes off. So we have to learn to manage better and play the next game to win. We have to win now.” 
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR.