Auburn Soccer Kicks Off Exhibition Season on Sunday at Orange Beach against West Florida - AuburnTigers.com

Auburn Soccer Kicks Off Exhibition Season on Sunday at Orange Beach against West Florida Soccer to start exhibition season against West Florida.

Aug. 12, 2005

AUBURN -- The Auburn soccer team will start its exhibition season on Sunday with a match against West Florida at 6 p.m. at the Orange Beach Soccer Complex. The Tigers will also play a home exhibition against Kennesaw State on Friday, Aug. 19 at 7 p.m. before kicking off the regular season versus Rice on Friday, Aug. 26 in Houston, Texas.

"After going three-a-days for a week we are excited to get on the field with the opportunity to play someone other than ourselves," Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. "Our training has been great and we are looking forward to putting everything together on the field against a quality opponent in West Florida."

Coming off of another impressive season in which the team made its fourth consecutive NCAA appearance and a trip to the second round of the tournament, the Tigers enter the 2005 campaign ranked 24th in the SoccerBuzz preseason national poll and fifth in the southeast region. Last year's squad finished 15-4-2, which included a SEC West Title for the fourth straight season.

Auburn returns a total of 14 players, seven starters, off of last season's NCAA team, including junior All-American Ronda Brooks and six seniors (Jessie Allan, Courtney Crandell, Ashley Eason, Sara Power, Jac Schwarz and Ashley Willis).

For West Florida, a member of the Gulf South Conference, the match with Auburn will be one of its first in over a year as the Argos's 2004 season was cancelled due to Hurricane Ivan.

Auburn's first home regular season tilt will be on Friday, Sept. 2, when the Tigers host Cal State Fullerton in a 7 p.m. CT match as part of the Auburn/Reebok Classic. Also participating will be South Carolina and Rhode Island, which will play one another at 4:30 p.m.