Baton Rouge, La. – LSU soccer (0-3-0) will hit the road for the second straight week as they travel to Columbia, Missouri, for a match against Missouri (1-2-0) on Friday night (Oct. 16). The match will begin at 7 p.m. CT and will be streamed on SEC Network+.

Live Stats | Live Stream | 2020 Stats

Series History – Missouri

The series between LSU and Missouri dates back to 2012; LSU has been the more proper side winning six of the eight matches. LSU has won two straight in the series and the last match between the two schools came at the 2018 SEC Tournament in the opening round. LSU outdueled Missouri with a 3-2 double overtime victory thanks to Alex Thomas’ hat trick.

Molly Thompson scored a goal against Missouri in LSU’s 2-1 victory in 2018, and Tinaya Alexander has racked up two career assists in her three matches against Missouri.

Missouri enters Friday’s match with a record of 1-2-0; their lone win of the season came against No. 13 Vanderbilt on Oct. 3.

Running Rammie

Sophomore forward Rammie Noel scored LSU’s first goal of the season last weekend against Mississippi State. With LSU trailing 1-0 in the early stages of the second half, Noel slashed through the box into the six and finished off Taylor Dobles’ beautiful ground cross to bring things level. Noel was assisted on the play by Dobles and Maddie Moreau which was the first career assist for the two of them.

Noel has been a problem for all three opponents LSU has faced this season. She’s beat defenders off the dribble, she’s set up teammates with good looks, and has provided great energy for the LSU squad. Noel has two career goals and one assist to her name. Both goals have been scored against Mississippi State and her lone assist came in 2019 against Kentucky.

Close Calls

LSU only has one goal to show for in three contests but the Tigers have registered some quality chances and had a bit of tough luck as well. Take for instance the season opener against Arkansas. The Tigers lost that match 2-0, but had three really solid opportunities to put the ball in the net. Two of those three chances had the keeper beat, but the ball deflected off the post.

Rewind to last weekend against Mississippi State and a little bit of the same thing. After LSU fell behind early on, Taylor Dobles worked her way into the box and rifled a low liner on goal, that once again beat the keeper, but caromed off the left post. Dobles was the recipient of more tough luck later in the game when she thought she had given the Tigers a 2-1 advantage with around 13 minutes left to play. Freshman Abby Smith played a ball into the right side of the box and Dobles lifted a shot into the top left corner of the goal, but she was ruled offsides by a narrow margin.

 Fresh Faces

LSU has had eight players make their Purple and Gold debuts this season. Taylor Dobles has started all three matches, and Wasila Diwura-Soale and Jordan Johnson have started two matches apiece. Mollee Swift (two starts) and Bella Zanotelli (one start) have made their LSU debuts in goal. Savannah Mills has seen action off the bench in two of the first three matches, and freshmen Lauren Robles and Abby Smith saw their first action against Mississippi State.

Last Time Out

LSU lost its road contest to Mississippi State, 2-1. The Tigers did score their first goal of the season when Rammie Noel found the back of the net in the 55th minute. It was her second career goal, both of which have come against Mississippi State, and Taylor Dobles and Maddie Moreau picked up their first career assists on the play.

Corners Attempted

LSU has generated 18 corner kicks in its first three matches for an average of six per contest. That is a mark that ranks No. 12 nationally.

The Captains

Chiara Ritchie-Williams and Maddie Moreau are serving as team captains this fall. Ritchie-Williams is the most experienced player on the squad and she is showing how valuable she is with a position change this season to the midfield. In her first three seasons, Ritchie-Williams anchored the backline for LSU at the centerback position, but for her senior season she has moved up to the midfield and will play a major role in LSU’s success. She has played in 62 career matches, starting 61 of those, and logged a total of 5,728 minutes. Moreau has played at leftback during her two seasons at LSU. She’s scored one career goal, registered her first career assist last week, and has played a total of 1,959 minutes out of possible 1,960 minutes in 21 career matches.

The Roster

LSU’s roster is made up of 16 returners from the 2019 season and 10 newcomers. The Tigers have five seniors, eight juniors, five sophomores, and eight freshmen. LSU has six players on the roster from Louisiana, and a total of five internationals. The rest of the roster is comprised from around the country with four each from Florida and Colorado, two from Texas, and one each from Alabama, Nebraska, North Carolina, Minnesota, and New Jersey.

The Hudson Profile

Sian Hudson enters the 2020 season as the seventh head coach in LSU history. She comes to LSU after coaching at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs where she accumulated a record of 52-10-4 in three seasons from 2017-19. Her win totals in each of the three seasons – 17 in 2017, 16 in 2018, and 19 in 2019 – were the three winningest seasons in program history. She led UCCS to the NCAA Division II Tournament in each of those three seasons which included a run to the national semifinals in 2017.

Prior to UCCS, she spent two seasons as an assistant at Colorado College in Colorado Springs as well as coaching in the W-League. As the head skipper in 2015, she led the Colorado Pride to the conference title and she had four players drafted into the National Women’s Soccer League during her time with the Pride.

SEC History

The Tigers have an all-time record of 88-135-32 in SEC regular season play. LSU won its first ever SEC Tournament title in 2018 against Arkansas. The Tigers captured four SEC West regular season titles (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011) before the league was merged into one group as a whole; in 2008, 2009, and 2011 the Tigers were SEC runners-up overall. The 2009 and 2011 clubs registered what is still a program record of eight wins in conference play. The last time LSU played only eight regular season conference matches was in 2002.

(Press Release Provided by LSU Athletics)