The Recap: LSU Tigers Soccer Falls to Alabama Crimson Tide 2-1 in SEC Matchup

BATON ROUGE – The LSU Soccer team (5-4-1, 0-1-1 SEC) came up short in a 2-1 battle against Alabama (7-2-1, 1-1-0 SEC) on Thursday night at the LSU Soccer stadium.

The Tigers strong effort fell just short due to a deciding 83rd minute goal from Alabama that gave the Tide a 2-1 lead and ultimately leading to the Tigers dropping their SEC home opener. LSU had a three-match win streak at home prior to tonight’s result.

“Just a disappointing loss. I don’t think the result reflected the performance,” said head coach Sian Hudson.

“Overall, it was a quality performance, but this is the fourth game we’ve lost this season where we’ve gifted the opponent a goal and then missed on big chances to put the game away. We had four or five big chances in the second half to win the game.

"We’ve just got to show a little bit more of a cutthroat mentality in SEC play if we want to win games in this conference. You’ve got to be able to put the game away.”

Both teams battled back and forth for the first 40 minutes of the match. Alabama was able to secure the opening goal with just three minutes left in the first half.

The Tide were awarded a corner kick after Tiger defender Jazmin Ferguson made a great effort to clear the ball out of bounds from an Alabama attack.

Alabama’s Nadia Ramadan took the corner and snuck it into the near top corner for an Olympico, giving the Tide a 1-0 lead. The score held into the halftime break.

The Tigers came out hot and got their first real chance in the 66th minute when freshman forward Sariyah Bailey fired a rocket from ten yards outside the box that hit the crossbar and came straight down, landing across the goal line and tying the score at 1-1. It was Bailey’s second goal of the season and of her young career.

LSU threatened again in the 75th minute thanks to a goal kick from Tiger goalkeeper Audi Scheving that traveled half the field and was knocked off the head of junior forward Ava Galligan to fellow forward and graduate student Morgan Witz.

Witz had a one-on-one opportunity with the Tide goalkeeper in a chance to take the lead, but missed just wide.

In the 83rd minute, Alabama forward Gianna Paul crossed the ball into the center of the Tiger territory, where it was kicked out to the top of the box.

The ball found the feet of Alabama’s Ramadan who struck the ball to the goalkeeper’s right before it deflected off a Tiger defender and into the back of the net. The brace gave Ramadan her third and fourth goals of the year.

The remaining seven minutes of the match saw Alabama hold off the energetic Tiger attacks as LSU looked to equalize yet again. The Tide were able to come out successful in the match and hold onto the 2-1 victory.

Both squads tallied a total of 12 shots with the Tigers knocking three on goal and the Tide five. Scheving finished the night with three saves for LSU, moving her total to 11 on the year.

LSU will hit the road this weekend to take on No. 5 Tennessee for a ranked conference opponent taking place in Knoxville on Sunday, September 21 at 1 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.

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