The start of the LSU soccer team’s season has been a see-saw ride. But if last weekend’s game is any indication, perhaps the seesaw is slanting up as LSU (1-1) travels to Tampa, Fla., to take on Central Florida (2-1) on Friday and South Florida (1-1) on Sunday.The Tigers had two firsts before the regular season even began — they beat Texas in the preseason and cracked the national rankings.But a new storyline unfolded when the regular season began — the Tigers    were held without a shot on goal in a 2-0 shutout loss to Memphis. But LSU fought back last weekend by demolishing Southern Miss, 3-0.”We lost our home opener, and then we came back and got a decent score against Southern Miss,” said senior midfielder Malorie Rutledge.If a shutout win in which the Tigers outshot the Golden Eagles, 17-1, is “decent,” perhaps fans haven’t yet seen the best of LSU.The best is what the Tigers will need if they plan on sweeping the road series this weekend. Last weekend, UCF beat No. 11 Duke, and USF lost a one-goal decision to No. 7 Florida.But LSU coach Brian Lee isn’t getting ahead of himself.”We’re really just trying to win Friday,” Lee said. “If we’re lucky enough to beat Central Florida, we’ll try and sweep the weekend. But right now all of our focus is on Central Florida. They’re one of the [most] elite programs of all time in women’s college soccer.”The LSU team that destroyed Southern Miss was a complete turnaround from the team that hardly competed against Memphis. LSU didn’t have a shot on goal in the game.”We have to start getting better in the attacking half of the field,” Lee said. “We’ll be looking to put a more complete game together.”LSU didn’t have many scoring chances in the Memphis game. The Tigers did have opportunities galore against the Golden Eagles but didn’t capitalize on many crosses into the box.”A big part of our practice this week was not doing just hopeful crosses,” Rutledge said. “Even [against] Southern Miss we had a lot of long crosses. It’s a lot better to get in line and pick out players. That was one of our main focuses this week, and I think we’ve done a good job of it, and hopefully we can execute it this weekend.”Senior defender Nikki Bush said LSU doesn’t know much about UCF or USF, but the Tigers will have to be aggressive throughout the entirety of both games.”Everybody has their own thing that they need to be doing,” she said. “We’ve got to come out from the first 90-second whistle and play a good 90 minutes.”LSU can’t rest on the second game of the weekend, as Lee expects that matchup to be just as tough.”South Florida is a team on the rise, and they’re going to challenge to be at the top of the Big East,” Lee said.The Tigers have a toilsome schedule beginning this weekend, and the non-conference games don’t get any less demanding within the next few weeks as the formidable opponents include Duke and No. 1 North Carolina.”If we can come away with two wins this weekend, it’s going to be a big confidence boost for our team,” Rutledge said. “It’ll definitely help stride us into Oklahoma, UNC and Duke.”Sophomore midfielder Taryne Boudreau and freshman forward Reyna Lubin are expected to return to play this weekend after suffering a concussion and contracting the flu, respectively.- – – – Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]