The LSU Woman’s Soccer team has established themselves as one of the most competitive programmes in the NCAA play-offs, having earned a top-15 national ranking and consistent postseason success.

A part of that success has been in their training, where they use STATSports every day in training. This has given coaches the ability to make adjustments on the fly instead of waiting until after the session, allowing the training design to chase specific metrics that reflect game demands accurately.

Balancing Intensity Around Matchdays With Live Data Thresholds

LSU operates in a high performance environment where managing training intensity, player availability and weekly progression is critical.

With varied positional demands and a competitive match schedule, the programme relies on objective data to support daily decisions on the training pitch.

As Strength & Conditioning Coach Dustin Ducree explains:

“I’m the guy with the iPad walking around the field, letting coaches know if someone’s getting a little high or if a low minute player needs more work”.

Throughout each session, Ducree monitors live metrics with a particular focus on high-intensity outputs.

Those numbers inform the day-to-day periodisation of training across the week, informed by individualised live thresholds set on the Sonra Live iPad app, which are set for each player across high intensity metrics based off requirements in relation to match day.

“During training, I’m looking at all of the high intensity metrics, helping with the periodization of practice on a day-to-day basis throughout the week and kind of building player thresholds on a game-to-game scenario.”

That visibility allows LSU to adjust intensity live, based on the training objectives. Ducree presents this example:

• Matchday minus one (MD-1): For a striker expected to play 70-80 minutes, live data thresholds ensures she does not exceed planned exposure – in this case for strikers, staying below a 30% high-intensity threshold. If numbers begin to creep up, work-rest ratios can be adjusted immediately.

• Matchday minus two (MD-2): If practice intensity is trending too low, staff expand drill spaces mid-session to increase high-speed exposure and ensure the required load is achieved.

Rather than relying on feel alone, key decisions are supported by objective live feedback.

Managing Position-Specific Demands

As Ducree alludes to above, different positions carry different physical demands.

Rather than applying one blanket target across the squad, LSU monitor positional outputs relative to the specific demands of each role.

For wide players, high-speed running exposure is expected to sit higher than central roles. If those numbers are trending below target during a session, intervention happens immediately – not after review.

“Just looking at the different metrics for the different positions, if I’m looking at a winger, I know high speed running needs to be a little bit higher for them.

In this example with a winger, if metrics like HSR are low on the day, there are two clear options available for Ducree:

• Manipulate drill space: To create natural high-speed opportunities

• Prescribe controlled top-up runs: If the session doesn’t organically deliver the required output.

If they’re low on the day, that’s when I can let the coaches know to continue giving them the opportunities to open up in space and those drills, or at the end of the session, I can do top up runs.”

This real time visibility becomes especially valuable in the days leading into a match.

Players are also given clarity around their current output relative to their positional goal.

“I’ll let them know you’re at 50% of your high speed running goal. We need a couple of cross field tempo runs to get you into the 70s or 80s.”

For players expected to log heavy minutes, on matchday, live thresholds help guide decision making and protect performance readiness.

Those adjustments might involve increasing recovery within drills or managing work to rest ratios to ensure key players are not overloaded.

For coaches and practitioners, the framework is simple:

1. Define positional high-speed expectations
2. Monitor those metrics live
3. Adjust drill design where possible
4. Use top-ups to ensure target exposure is achieved

The result is training that reflects match-day positional demands – while maintaining control over individual workload.

Reducing Injury Risk by Monitoring Workload and Intensity

Beyond session design, STATSports also supports LSU’s approach to reducing injury risk.

“On the reducing injury risk side, I look at it in the sense of soft tissue injuries and not in contact.”

Ducree uses STATSports in pre-season and into regular season practices by tracking workload trends and monitoring high intensity exposure across the squad, which makes it easier to take proactive approaches to managing non contact injuries.

” I can use STATSports in the preseason and then moving into when the coaches actually had practice, I would help with the periodization of ramping us up on a week-to-week basis as we got closer to those game days.”

Across preseason, weekly periodisation and individual match preparation, LSU Women’s Soccer use live metrics to shape training as it happens. For coaches and practitioners, the approach is practical: monitor high-intensity outputs live, build thresholds relative to match demands, adjust drill design when intensity is too low, and manage exposure before it becomes a problem.

STATSports has helped LSU Woman’s Soccer create a more informed and responsive training environment, one where workload is managed in real time, progression is measurable, and decisions are driven by objective insights rather than assumption.