After its victory against Lamar University to end 2016 non-conference play, LSU’s soccer team will travel to South Carolina to kick off the Southeastern Conference-heavy portion of its schedule.
The Tigers (6-4-0, 1-1-0 SEC) will face the Gamecocks at 6 p.m. Thursday with SEC play coming to a swift opening.
LSU is ranked seventh in the SEC, only three points from Arkansas, which has six. The Gamecocks (8-0-1, 2-0-0 SEC) are tied for first in the SEC and ranked eighth nationally.
LSU faces South Carolina in a six-game hot streak, 5-1, with the only loss coming from Texas A&M.
The Gamecocks are on an eight-game winning streak with four straight clean sheets.
“It’s reassuring that we’re playing our best soccer right now, which, if you’re going to peak at any time, it’s now right before SEC play,” said senior forward Summer Clarke. “I’m pretty confident in the team and everyone’s abilities going into SEC play.”
The Tigers and Gamecocks tied in their regular season matchup in Baton Rouge in 2015. LSU had not won in the previous six meetings versus South Carolina, dating back to 2009.
The Tigers nearly ended their slump against South Carolina last year when they tied in a 1-1 match with then-sophomore forward Jorian Baucom’s goal. Baucom comes into this week’s match fresh off being named to TopDrawerSoccer.com’s national Team of the Week with five goals scored over the course of the weekend.
The Tigers are shaping into form, solidifying their starting 11 after beginning the year with multiple new players.
“Early in the year we were integrating anywhere from four to six new kids on the field at any point,” said LSU coach Brian Lee. “So the players were getting used to each other, and the coaches were trying to figure out the best way to deploy each player to maximize their strengths and we think we’ve gotten a whole lot closer to that set up.”
The Tigers will move on to Nashville to play Vanderbilt on Sept. 25 at 1 p.m. before returning home.