 Photo By: LSUsports.net Da Boot Sports 11/6/2025 LSU Sports Communications By: Alyssa Leal PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 23/25 nationally ranked LSU Soccer team (13-5-3) punched their ticket to the 2025 SEC Tournament Championship with a 3-1 win over the No. 8-seed Mississippi State Bulldogs (12-6-2) in the semifinals on Thursday evening. With the win, LSU is now heading to the finals for the third time in program history. The Tigers have a 1-1 record in the championship match, falling to South Carolina on penalties in 2009 by a score of 1-1 (8-7 PK) and claiming the program’s sole SEC Championship in 2018 with a penalty shootout victory over Arkansas, 1-1 (4-1 PK). As the five seed in 2025, the Tigers are also the lowest seed to reach the SEC championship match since Vanderbilt (7) in 2020. The Tigers controlled the pace of the game from the first minute and were rewarded for their play in the 18th minute with the opening goal. The Tigers took a free kick deep from their own half that flipped the field and deflected off the head of a Mississippi State defender. Galligan found herself in the right place at the right time and poked the ball on the half volley from just outside the box past the goalkeeper into the back of the net. For Galligan, the goal was her 10th of the season, becoming the first LSU player since Jorian Baucom in 2016 to hit double digit goals in a single season. In the 29th minute, Vega-Pelenka attempted to control the ball in the Mississippi State box but had her studs slip off the ball and into the leg of midfielder Gadea Blanco Gonzalez, which drew a penalty on VAR review and a red card for Vega-Pelenka. Hermansdottir stepped up to the spot and slotted the ball into the bottom-right corner to give LSU a 2-0 lead and her eighth goal of the season, tying her season-best achieved in 2024. Hermannsdottir is now 8-9 from the spot in her career. Riding momentum from the second goal, the LSU lead was stretched to 3-0 just three minutes later. A strong sequence of team play saw Hermansdottir and Gonzalez connect on the right flank before Gonzalez sent a cross into the box for Bailey, who headed it downward to bounce past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net. The goal was Bailey’s seventh of the season while the assists took Hermansdottir and Gonzalez’s tallies to six and two respectively. The Bulldogs responded just before halftime in the 43rd minute. Ally Perry whipped in a cross from the corner to the back post and found the head of Borman, whose header flew across goal and into the bottom-right corner. The goal was the final major moment of the first half that saw the Tigers hold a 3-1 lead after 45 minutes. The second half showed the discipline of the Tigers as they limited the Bulldogs in attack and controlled the tempo of the match. LSU goalkeeper Audur Scheving picked up saves in the 64th and 90th minutes, two easy saves due to strong defense from the Tigers. That was all she wrote for the scoreless second half, with the whistle blowing for a final score of 3-1 in favor of LSU. The box score showed an even statline, with both teams having 11 shots each in the match while LSU had six on goal compared to Mississippi State’s three. Outside of the Bulldogs’ goal from the corner in the 42nd minute, however, the Tigers kept the Bulldog attack at bay throughout the match. On the season, Thursday’s match was the 13th win of the year for the Tigers, the third-highest mark in program history and the first time that 13 wins have been reached since the 2018 season. The unbeaten streak also continues for LSU and now sits at ten consecutive matches, a program-record. LSU will take on the winner of No. 2-seed Vanderbilt and No. 3-seed Georgia in the SEC Championship at 1:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, November 9. The match will be broadcast on the SEC Network. John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior) *John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2025
|
RSS Feed