Football Hosts Utah in Baton Rouge for the First Time – LSU

BATON RED – LSU Football (3-1-0) will host Utah (2-1-1) for the first time on Thursday, September 5th at 7:00 PM at LSU Football Stadium.

“We had a great week on the road, two wins that really boosted our confidence. Now we’re excited to take that confidence and put on a performance in front of our home fans,” head coach Sian Hudson said. “This will be our first time hosting Utah on our home court. They’re a very talented team and I have a lot of respect for Hideki and everything he’s done at Utah. I think the Tiger fans are going to see a fun matchup because it’s very important for us to get a win tomorrow.”

The game between the Tigers and Utes will be broadcast on SECN+. Follow the link And live statistics link can be found Here.

Rival

Utah is coming off a 7-1 win over Weber State last Sunday before their first trip to Baton Rouge. The Utes are 2-1-1 on the year with wins over Weber State and Gonzaga, a tie against Grand Canyon and a loss to Utah State.

The Utes have swept three of their four opponents this season. In Sunday’s game against Weber State, they were held to a 12-5 total shot-for-shot lead. In their game against GCU, they were heavily outscored in total shots, outscoring their visitors by a 14-3 margin. Utah could only boast such a significant lead This statistic will change four times in 2023, the largest by a 32-12 margin In their win over Oregon.

On Sept. 1 against Weber State, for the first time in program history, two Utes scored three goals in the same game. Both Katie O’Kane and Taliana Kaufusi scored three goals in a 7-1 win over the Wildcats. It was O’Kane’s second three-goal haul in college; her first came Oct. 1, 2023, at Oregon and her first for Kaufusi, and Taliana Kaufusi scored three goals in a 7-1 win over the Wildcats. It was O’Kane’s second three-goal haul in college; her first came Oct. 1, 2023, at Oregon and her first for Kaufusi.

Kaplan Important People

LSU now has four regular-season games remaining as it concludes its East Coast road trip at Norfolk on Sunday. The team earned six points last week with two road wins against UMass Lowell and Old Dominion.

The Tigers have a 3-1-0 record on the year with wins over South Alabama (W, 3-0), UMass Lowell (W, 3-0) and Old Dominion (2-1) and a loss against Arizona State (L 5-2).

With two wins on the road last week, LSU is aiming to break last year’s road win record by matching the number of wins on the road in 2023.

The Tigers have scored 10 goals in four games so far this year, with Ida Hermannsdottir, Jazmin Ferguson, Angelina Thoreson, Ava Galligan, Andrea Iljkic, Amy Smith and Kelsey Major scoring the most.

Major scored his first goal of the year and third of his career in the Tigers’ last game against Old Dominion, while Galligan’s game-winning goal was his second of the year and sixth of his career.

Galligan, Hermannsdottir and Ferguson led their teams with two goals each, while other players scored one goal each.

The Tigers have tallied seven assists so far this year, led by junior Sydney Cheesman. The UNC transfer has been a key player on set pieces for LSU, notching a team-high four assists in four games. Her four assists on the year also ranks tied for the most assists by a single player in the conference.

This year, Sage Glover, Jaden Humbyrd and Galligan are also among those with assists.

Overall, LSU has taken 78 shots on goal on the year, 38 of which were on target. Forwards Mollie Baker and Galligan lead the way with 13 shots, while Angelina Thoreson is next with eight.

Scheving, a sophomore from Iceland who is in his first year with the Tigers, has started between the posts in every game for the Tigers so far, recording 10 saves and two shutouts.

Hermannsdottir, Ferguson, Cheesman, Baker, Thoreson, Humbyrd, Glover, Shannon, Scheving and Caley Swierenga have started every game for LSU this year.

Preseason Watch List

Five Tigers on the LSU Soccer team have been named to the 2024 SEC Soccer Preseason Watch List. A total of 88 student-athletes were named to this year’s watch list, with Mollie Baker, Jazmin Ferguson, Ida Hermannsdóttir, Ava Galligan and Sydney Cheesman all being Tigers players to watch this year.

Baker, Hermannsdottir and Galligan are returning to LSU this year, while Ferguson and Cheesman are entering their first seasons with the Purple and Gold, having transferred to the team this spring.

Baker, the captain and leader of this year’s LSU team, enters his final season with the Tigers in 2024. The Gilbert, Ariz., native was the only player to play in all 20 games for the Tigers last year and start in the starting lineup. The forward tallied three goals, five assists and 1,551 minutes on the field while earning United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region Third Team honors in 2023.

Hermannsdottir, from Reykjivic, Iceland, continues to be one of the top midfielders to watch in the country. She enters her third year at LSU with 11 goals, four assists and 2,366 minutes in her career.

Galligan, a forward and midfielder from Ashburn, Virginia, enters his second year with the Tigers after a breakout season in 2023. He recorded four goals, five assists and played in all 20 games as a freshman.

Ferguson joins the team from East Carolina University, where he played two seasons and was the 2023 American Athletic Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year. A native of Conyers, Georgia, Ferguson will serve as an assistant captain on the team as he enters his junior season next fall. United Soccer Coaches named him a defender to watch in 2024.

Cheesman is a defenseman from Lafayette, Colorado, who transferred to LSU from the University of North Carolina and played 175 minutes in nine games, helping the Tar Heels to two NCAA Tournament appearances. The defenseman was rated a four-star recruiting prospect by Top Drawer Soccer in 2022 before starting his collegiate career at UNC.

Defender to Watch

United Soccer Coaches named LSU Soccer third-year forward Jazmin Ferguson as the defender to watch in 2024.

The defensive watch list was the second position announced by the organization, with United Soccer Coaches announcing the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Player Watch lists for each position. Ferguson was the only Tiger to request a spot by the organization.

The lists are compiled and published by the Division I All-America Committees for the purpose of promoting college football.

A native of Conyers, Georgia, Ferguson began his junior season with the Tigers last Thursday as he looks to continue to be a force on the back line. In his first year at LSU, he will also serve as the Tigers’ Co-Captain in 2024.

Ferguson has already made an impression with the Purple-and-Gold, scoring his first goal in the season opener against South Alabama last Thursday.

After spending his first two seasons at East Carolina University, he transferred to LSU in the spring and earned the 2023 American Athletic Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year award.

In his first season as a freshman, he was named the AAC Freshman of the Year and earned Second Team All-Conference and All-Freshman nominations. At the end of the season, he was rated the No. 56 defenseman in the country by Top Drawer Soccer despite only being a freshman.

Last year, the Georgia native became the first East Carolina player in program history to win two playoff honors and only the third player in team history to win Defensive Player of the Year honors (first since 2008).

His playing experience will give LSU a veteran voice on the field and add depth to the Tigers’ defensive unit.

Coaching Team

Hudson enters his fifth season with the Tigers. Since starting at LSU in 2019, he has led the program to unprecedented success alongside Associate Head Coach Seb Furness, who joined the coaching staff that same year.

Assistant Coaches Antony Blackburn and Conor Cable are also joining the team. Blackburn is from Derby, England, and initially joined the Tigers in the Fall of 2023 as an analyst. He will primarily assist with session planning and presentation, individual development plans and opponent preparation. Prior to LSU, Blackburn served as the Head Coach of Valencia CF U14 (Valencia, Spain), one of the most prestigious academies in professional soccer.

Cable joins the Tigers from Lake Erie College, where he spent five years helping take the Storm to new heights. Cable will primarily lead the LSU goalkeeping unit and oversee LSU Soccer community service and charity events.

A native of Spalding, England, the player brings a wealth of experience to Baton Rouge, both from his previous stints with the Lake Erie goalkeeping unit and his own professional experience. Cable came through the professional system in England, playing for a variety of Premier League and Championship clubs including Norwich City and Cardiff City, and spent his youth academy days with Bristol City Football Club.

Under Hudson’s leadership, the LSU Tigers reached major milestones in the 2023 season, marking their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance and third consecutive postseason appearance — the most consecutive appearances by a coach in LSU history. Notably, Hudson achieved his first LSU NCAA Tournament victory with a first-round win over Lamar on November 11, 2022.

Next season, Hudson and his team will aim to secure their fourth consecutive win and LSU’s 10th overall NCAA appearance. The Tigers also hope to secure the program’s 14th ten-win season while pursuing the SEC and national championship.

Attendance is another key component for the Tigers, as Hudson and his team look to set new attendance records at LSU Football Stadium in 2024. Three of the program’s ten largest crowds have occurred during Hudson’s tenure.

2024 Squad

This year’s team is a mix of young and experienced players, with 29 players on the roster, including one graduate student, two seniors, seven juniors, nine sophomores and 10 freshmen.

This year, Mollie Baker and Jaden Humbyrd will serve as team captains, while Jazmin Ferguson, who transferred from ECU, will serve as co-captain.

LSU has added Ferguson, Cheesman, Sophine Kevorkian (USD) and Gabbi Ceballos (TCU) to its roster for the upcoming season.

Veteran players include Baker, Humbyrd and Tori Gillis, who will enter their final seasons with the Tigers this year.

The junior division includes Kevorkian, Ferguson, Hermannsdottir, Cheesman, Jocelyn Ollivierre, Angelina Thoreson and Sage Glover.

Thoreson is returning to the field this year after missing the 2023 season due to injury.

The sophomores on the team are Ceballos, Danielle Shannon, Kelsey Major, Audur Scheving, Caley Swierenga, Andrea Iljkic, Ava Galligan, Brielyn Knowles and Alyson Campbell.

Freshmen include Riley MacDonald, Amy Smith, Annaleigh Bruser, Katelyn Holt, Emerson DeLuca, Ava Amsden, Aurora Gaines, Senai Rogers, Sarah Stadler and Natalie Dvorakova.

Scheving’s addition brings LSU’s roster of international players to four. Along with Hermannsdottir, he is the second player from Reykjavik, Iceland, to become a Tiger. Other countries represented on the roster include Sweden and the Czech Republic.

The full 2024 LSU Football Roster can be found here: Here.

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