The No. 23 LSU soccer team travels to Winston-Salem, N.C., this weekend to face No. 16 Wake Forest and Virginia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference/Southeastern Conference Challenge.
The Tigers (1-1) are fresh off a road loss to Memphis, and LSU coach Brian Lee said he hopes his group of 12 freshmen have learned something as they prepare for road games against the Demon Deacons (3-1) and the Hokies (2-2).
“Some of the young kids didn’t realize the competitiveness of college soccer, especially on the road, until the Memphis game,” Lee said. “They were probably shocked at the level of intensity that it requires and that there’s no time to rest or no time to have a mental break during the game.”
The Demon Deacons boast freshman forward   Rachel Nuzzolese, who scored a goal in each of Wake Forest’s first three games.
LSU senior forward and midfielder Courtney Alexander said the Tigers will look to patch up mistakes made in the Memphis game against the speedy Demon Deacons.
“I think Wake Forest will be a really good test because they have some really strong forwards to pressure our back line and make sure we’re ready for [Southeastern Conference] play,” Alexander said.
Lee had nothing but praise for LSU’s ACC adversaries. He said the ACC is hands down the best women’s soccer conference in the country and will provide fierce competition.
“Wake and Virginia Tech are both established teams that are going to be in the NCAA tournament at the end of the year, so it’s really an opportunity for us to get some good wins that will hopefully get us in the NCAA tournament [later on],” Lee said.
Though the NCAA tournament is barely a glint at the end of the schedule, LSU is already thinking about it before SEC play. The games the Tigers play now will affect their eventual placement if they make the tournament.
“Non-conference games are just as important as SEC games these days, because to get an NCAA tournament at-large [bid] you have to have a good non-conference schedule, which we do,” Alexander said. “But we actually have to pull out some wins.”
Lee said playing on the road against ACC teams early in the season gives his young players adequate experience and a chance to grow before the SEC season. Freshman forward Kaley
Blades said she is excited to see the atmosphere during Friday’s match against Wake Forest.
“We’re expecting it to be a tough game,” Blades said. “We know we have to get a win this weekend to get a good place in the NCAA tournament. It’s definitely a big weekend.”
The Tigers are trying to right the ship. LSU started the season on a tremendous note with an 8-0 win against South Alabama but fell for the second year in a row to      Memphis, 1-0, in what Lee called an eye-opener for his largely inexperienced team.
LSU’s opponents don’t have clean sheets either. Wake Forest has won three of its last four, but Virginia Tech dropped its last two matches to No. 7 Texas A&M and Long Beach State.
“For mental psyche obviously we need to bounce back from Memphis,” Alexander said. “We’re a better team than that. We know how to work hard. We just need to put that to the game and play for 90 minutes straight.”
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]