Soccer To Face South Florida In NCAA Tournament First Round - AuburnTigers.com

Soccer To Face South Florida In NCAA Tournament First Round NCAA Preparation

Goalkeeper Amy Howard

Nov. 10, 2010

The Auburn soccer team heads to Tallahassee, Fla., on Thursday morning as it prepares to take on South Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Auburn (11-7-2) and South Florida (13-5-3) both earned at-large invitations to the 64-team tournament, with the winner advancing to play the winner of the Florida State (13-5-1)-Middle Tennessee State (13-8-2) match.

The Auburn-South Florida match is set to kickoff at 6pm CT on Friday following the Florida State-Middle Tennessee State match at 3:30pm.

"South Florida is a team that has really come on strong this year," Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. "They are going to be a tough team. They played for the BIG EAST championship and lost to West Virginia, a real powerhouse. They have some dynamic forwards up top and they play a hard, tough-nosed, physical defense."

Auburn, which is in the tournament for a school-record fifth consecutive season, is trying to earn its fifth first round win and first since 2008.

Auburn, which finished the season by going 2-2-1 in its last five matches, is in search of its first post-season win in Tallahassee since 2003, a place it is traveling to for the fifth time in its postseason history.

"It's tournament time. It's a one-game season so we have to be ready for a physical battle and we have to be ready for a mental battle. We have to play better. Unfortunately our last game we didn't play great and we have to find a way to be better and take care of the ball," Hoppa said.

Auburn is led offensively by First Team All-SEC midfielder Katy Frierson, who at the end of the SEC Tournament led the SEC with 12 assists and 0.60 assists per game, which both rank sixth in the nation.

Defensively, Auburn relies heavily on the leadership of Second Team All-SEC defender Sammy Towne in the center and First Team All-SEC defender Julie King on the outside.

Florida State, which is one of the 16 national seeds, was an at-large selection out of the ACC while Middle Tennessee State won the Sun Belt's automatic bid.

The championship match is at noon on Sunday and will air live on Sun Sports Network if Florida State advances to the match.