AU ROUNDUP: Women's golf in eighth at Tar Heel Invitational

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The No. 3 Auburn women’s golf team logged an 8-over 296 scorecard after the opening day of the 34th annual Tar Heel Invitational, landing the team in the middle of the pack at eighth place.

Leading the field is fifth-ranked Michigan State with its 3-under 285 opening round.

“For the day, we got off to a slow start,” head coach Kim Evans noted. “A lot of great things happened, but when it came down to finishing, we didn’t get it done.“

Senior Candace Schepperle, the only Auburn player to record a sub-par round, carded a team-best 1-under 71 to start the tournament and is in a tie for fifth place individually. Finding a birdie on the first hole, Schepperle did not find another until the back nine, where she tallied two more birdies and two bogies to enter the clubhouse at 1-under.

“Candace had some struggles on the front nine, but her short game pulled her through,” Evans said. “And then on the back, she made some great initial shots and struggled on the greens just a bit, but she played a solid round for us today.“

Following Schepperle, junior Cydney Clanton, even par after 15 holes, found trouble on the final three of the day, bogeying 16 and 18. Clanton birdied number 17 to keep her at just one-over par for the first round and in a tie for 22nd individually.

Behind Schepperle and Clanton, the Tigers logged a trio of 4-over 76s as Haley Wilson, Carlie Yadloczky and Patricia Sanz each were unable to find a rhythm.

Yadloczky, who was at 1-under through the first eight holes, hit a bogey on number nine before the halfway point, where she bogeyed four of her final nine coming into the clubhouse. Wilson and Sanz also found trouble on the back nine. The three are tied for 42nd.

On the back nine, the Tigers logged 14 bogeys and only four birdies, causing some concern for Evans.

“We need to get comfortable on the greens and I think that’s what really held us back today,” Evans said.

Evans remains optimistic about the remaining 36 holes left to play in the invitational.

“We have to take care of tomorrow and that’s what we’re going to do,” Evans said. “We want be the first ones out there and get a good look. We have a lot more to prepare for and big a hill to climb and we’re looking forward to doing just that.“

Coach Evans and the rest of the team will get their wish as the Tigers are set to tee off starting at 8 a.m. from the No.1 tee and will continue until 8:36 a.m. Auburn will be paired alongside South Carolina and North Carolina for the second round of action.

Equestrian tops UT Martin
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Auburn equestrian team (3-1) defeated UT Martin (0-2), 12-7, on Friday at the Ned McWherter Agricultural Complex.

The Tigers defeated the Skyhawks 6-4 in Hunt Seat and 6-3 in Western.

“For this being our first road trip of the year, we did extremely well,” said Auburn head coach Greg Williams. “We didn’t lose a single event, and we won all four MVPs. While it doesn’t get much better than that, it’s awfully good to do it on the road which makes it even more special.”

Auburn won Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences 3-2 behind MVP Chelsea Anheuser, who defeated Madeline Brown 85-78. Other Tiger winners included Katie Breedlove over Kara Bergenty 80-45 and Anna Schierholz over Katie Miranda 84-76. Skyhawk winners included Caroline Cramer over Dottie Grubb 82-72 and Brittany Kasprack over Grace Socha 83-73.

Auburn won Hunt Seat Equitation on the Flat 3-2 behind MVP Lindsay Portela, who defeated Kelsey Abell 81-58. Other Tiger winners included Breedlove over Miranda 54-52 and Anheuser over Cramer 72-61. Skyhawk winners included Michelle Thompson over Mallory Kolpin 60-43 and Alex Atkins over Grubb 56-36.

Auburn tied Tennessee-Martin 2-2 in Western Horsemanship. Auburn’s Indy Roper earned MVP honors for the third straight time this season defeating Candice Fulcher 72.5-68.5. Other Tiger winners include Mary Casey over Stephanie Sanders 71.5-63.5. Skyhawk winners included Michelle Chullock over Kristin Hansen 68.5-66.5 and Hannah Derks over Bailey Dymond 71-70.5. Tying with a score of 0 (0 refers to a no score because of a penalty) were Auburn's Casey Fowler and Tennessee-Martin’s Heidi Grimm.

Auburn won Western Reining 4-1 behind MVP Paige Monfore, who earned her second MVP honor this season defeating Stephanie Sanders 66.5-57.5. Other Tiger winners included Kelsey George over Blair Childress 66-62.5, Kim Pope over Candice Fulcher 64-0 and Jessica Jones over Heidi Grimm 60.5-0. Skyhawk winners include Derks over Jillian Fuller 66.5-56.

Auburn rides at home against Texas A&M Oct. 16 at 3 p.m. at the Auburn Equestrian Center. The meet is open to the public, and admission is free.

Soccer falls in overtime at South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. - For the third time this season, Auburn played even with the competition for 90 minutes but couldn’t hold off a late surge by an opponent as Auburn fell, 1-0, in overtime at No. 7 South Carolina on Friday night.

The loss dropped Auburn’s record to 5-5-3, 2-3-0 SEC while South Carolina remains undefeated at 12-0-1, 4-0-1 SEC.

“We lost another heartbreaker. We played well; we solved the game and defended it great. We had gotten in some, but on the road against the No. 7 team you are not going to get the majority of the chances, but we got enough,” Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. “Unfortunately (Samantha Diaz-Matosas) hit a great shot and it ended the game.”

Diaz-Matosas ended the match in the 98th minute when she netted an unassisted goal from 20 yards out, shooting it over the defense and to the far post for her third goal of the season.

A great save by Amy Howard had kept the game tied at 0-0 just over two minutes after halftime. Brook Jacobs took a Kayla Grimsley pass inside the six and one-touched the shot, forcing Howard into a diving deflection. Jenni Prescott was able to send the loose ball out past the post for a South Carolina corner but also ending the South Carolina scoring chance.

Later on in the period, Chelsea Yauch found herself on the doorstep of snapping the scoreless tie in the 73rd minute but a solid defensive play by South Carolina stopped Yauch’s progress and gave Auburn a corner. Mary Coffed sent a through ball into the six which South Carolina goalkeeper Mollie Patton came off her line to stop but was unable to, allowing Yauch to have half of the goal in front of her but with a defender on her hip, she was unable to pull the trigger on a shot as she and the defender went sliding down, knocking the ball over the end line.

Mary Coffed’s shot in the 83rd minute from 20 yards out was deflected out by the South Carolina defense and then Caitlin King had a chance to put Auburn up a goal in the 87th minute, taking a perfect feed from Rebecca Howell into the South Carolina 18 but her shot from a sharp angle was stopped by Patton.

Auburn managed two first-half shots with Yauch and Katy Frierson each registering one. Yauch’s came from 30 yards out and went wide while Frierson’s was off of a 25-yard free kick, which Patton easy put the wraps on.

Auburn finished the match with seven shots, three on frame.

South Carolina took 17 shots in the match, forcing Howard, the SEC saves leader coming in, into seven saves, upping her total to 77 on the year. The defensive backline was also forced to clear out multiple South Carolina crosses, voiding South Carolina scoring chances.

Auburn remains on the road for its next match, traveling to Gainesville, Fla., for a noon match with the No. 14 Gators. The match will air live on Sun Sports.

Volleyball swept at Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky, - The Auburn volleyball team fell to No. 10 Kentucky, 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-11), on Friday at the Memorial Coliseum.

“We played very well in the first and second set, but unfortunately, our youth showed in the third,” head coach Wade Benson said. “We may have been a little too high coming off the wins last weekend. We’re going to grow from this experience and bring our best out against Tennessee.”

Auburn (11-6, 3-3 SEC) was led offensively by freshman Sarah Bullock and junior Morgan Johns. The pair tallied eight kills in the match. Liz Crouch finished with a match-high 12 digs, while Katherine Culwell had nine digs for the Tigers.

Sarah Mendoza recorded a match-best 13 kills, while Lauren Rapp finished with 11 kills. Setter Sarah Rumely had 42 assists to lead Kentucky (16-1, 6-0 SEC).

The first set saw the two squads battle back and forth, exchanging points and seeing neither team gain a substantial lead. Down 9-8, Auburn came up with a quick 2 points on kills from Johns and Jonelle Wallace to go up 10-9. With the set tied at 11, the Wildcats put together a 3-point run to go up 14-11. Kentucky continued to push its lead and took the set 25-18.

Tied at 3 apiece in Set 2, the Tigers pushed a 3-0 run to take the 6-3 advantage. Kentucky came back with a 4-point run of its own to go up 7-6. A pair of kills from Bullock and Wallace put Auburn up 12-11 and the two teams traded points through the middle parts of the set. Tied at 16 apiece, Kentucky pushed a 2-0 run to go up 18-16 and went on to win 25-20.

Kentucky jumped out to a quick 5-3 lead and continued on to a 10-5 advantage in the third set. A kill from Katherine Culwell brought the Tigers within 3, but the Wildcats went on a 6-2 run to go up 16-9.

Kentucky finished out the match with a 25-11 win.

The Tigers conclude their road trip at Tennessee with a 12:30 p.m. matchup on Sunday.