For four years, LSU seniors Sara Pollock, Caroline Vanderpool and Valerie Vogler have witnessed the LSU soccer program rise from Southeastern Conference mediocrity to the national spotlight the program has been thrust into this season. On Thursday night at the LSU Soccer Complex, the Tigers’ trio of seniors will get one final opportunity to play in front of the purple and gold crowd when No. 20 LSU (10-2-5, 4-1-3) takes on No. 25 South Carolina (12-4-1, 4-3-1). Both LSU and South Carolina take SEC championship aspirations into the match, with the teams collecting 15 and 13 points, respectively, to trail conference leader Tennessee (11-2-2, 6-1-1) who has 19 points. The Tigers enter the match tied for first place with Auburn in the SEC Western Division. Although the two teams are tied, Auburn holds the tie-breaker because of a head-to-head loss. LSU coach Brian Lee said the Tigers are in the position they want to be in heading toward the stretch run of the season. “It’s been an exciting race to this point, and it appears that six teams have separated themselves from the pack with a chance to win the conference title,” Lee said. “We’re certainly pleased to be in that mix, but we’ve got a lot of work still left in front of us starting Thursday night.” The Tigers enter into the match coming off a 2-0 victory against Vanderbilt and a 1-1 tie against Kentucky this past weekend. LSU leads the conference in goals scored this season with 38 but will face a stiff South Carolina defense that has produced 10 shutouts this season, including consecutive shutouts this past weekend against Auburn and Alabama. South Carolina coach Shelley Smith said the Gamecocks will face their toughest defensive challenge against LSU. “[LSU] is a very good team,” Smith said. “And they’re very good at home. Anytime you can beat a team like Tennessee or tie a team like Georgia, then you are playing the game at a high level.” To have success against the LSU offense, Smith said the Gamecocks will have to slow down sophomore forward Rachel Yepez, who leads the conference in scoring with 11 goals. Lee said it will be important for the team to balance its emotions between the match at hand and senior night because the three seniors have been a vital part of LSU’s success this season. “Each of these young ladies has played an important role in the rise of the LSU soccer program into the national spotlight this year,” Lee said. “They bought into our philosophy and vision for the future of LSU soccer when we arrived three years ago. And they have the opportunity to lead the program to even greater heights this season.” Vanderpool came to Baton Rouge from Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Canada. Despite being far from home, she said she will never forget her time at LSU. “I wouldn’t trade my time here for anything in the world,” Vanderpool said. “When I got here, we obviously weren’t even close to being in the top 20. So it is very satisfying to see all of the hard work and all of the effort we’ve put in pay off. I am very sad to go.”
—Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]