Tigers Hit The Road For Pair Of Matches Against Top-15 Teams - AuburnTigers.com

Tigers Hit The Road For Pair Of Matches Against Top-15 Teams Sunday's match will air live on Sun Sports

Caitlin King

Oct. 8, 2009

AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn soccer team will face another daunting challenge this weekend as it hits the road for a pair of matches against top-15 teams. Auburn opens the weekend at No. 7 South Carolina at 7pm ET on Friday and then heads to No. 14 Florida for a 1pm ET match on Sunday. The match on Sunday will air live on Sun Sports.

"South Carolina and Florida are two of the best teams in the SEC right now," Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. "They are two difficult teams to play and playing them on the road will present a big challenge for us."

Auburn is 5-4-3, 2-2-0 SEC after splitting its weekend with Arkansas (W, 2-1) and No. 17 LSU (L, 2-0). The team currently sits in a tie with Ole Miss for second in the SEC West, six points behind leader LSU. It is also in a three-way tie for fifth in the overall standings along with Tennessee, which it hasn't played yet.

South Carolina tops the SEC standings at 11-0-1, 3-0-1 SEC while Florida is third in the SEC East at 8-4-1, 2-1-1 SEC. Both programs played the Mississippi schools last weekend with South Carolina defeating Ole Miss, 1-0, and playing to a 1-1 draw with Mississippi State. Florida fell, 3-2, at Ole Miss in overtime and also played to a 1-1 tie with Mississippi State.

"South Carolina is one of the best, if not the best, defensive teams in the country. They do a fantastic job of defending on their backline," Hoppa said. "Florida is good at every position. They are extremely athletic and they will come at you with such a dynamic offense that they are difficult to defend."

South Carolina has posted nine shutouts on the season and has surrendered an SEC-best three goals all season while Florida is at the opposite end of the spectrum, having allowed 16 goals on the season, tied with Vanderbilt for the most of any league team.

Katy Frierson and Rebecca Howell enter the weekend tied for the Auburn team lead with four goals each while Caitlin King and Heather Havron have a team-high five assists each.

Freshman goalkeeper Amy Howard leads the SEC in saves (70) and saves per game (5.83), is fifth in save percentage (.824) and 10th in goals against average (1.20).

Complete Match Notes in PDF Format