AU ROUNDUP: Howell's 2 goals leads soccer to big win over UGA

Rebecca Howell made sure that her final regular-season match at the Auburn Soccer Complex would be a special one, as the senior scored two goals to lead Auburn to a 2-0 win over No. 19 Georgia on Sunday afternoon.

The win clinched a ninth consecutive berth in the SEC Soccer Tournament for Auburn and also secured Auburn’s first win over a ranked team since the 2007 season.

Howell finished the match with four shots, all of them on frame, and had the first multi-goal game of her career, collecting her sixth and career-high seventh goals of the season.

Goalkeeper Amy Howard made seven saves to earn her fourth shutout of the season, including two spectacular diving saves in the final five minutes of the match to preserve the blanking.

The seven saves gave her 101 on the season and she needs just two more to move into second all-time on the Auburn single-season saves list.

The win moved Auburn to 8-7-3 overall and 5-5-0 SEC while Georgia fell to 13-4-1, 6-4-0 SEC.

Auburn is in sixth place in the SEC standings with one match remaining.

Auburn closes out the regular season on Friday at 7 p.m. against archrival Alabama.

Clanton wins NCAA Fall Preview
WILMINGTON, N.C. — Junior Cydney Clanton carded her third consecutive 2-under-par round of the weekend to earn her second win of the season while helping third-ranked Auburn to post an even-par final round and tie for second place in the 2009 NCAA Fall Preview.

Hosted by the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, the NCAA Fall Preview was a 54-hole tournament played at the par-72, 6,325-yard Country Club of Landfall Pete Dye Course, the site of the 2010 NCAA Championship.

The three-day tournament featured nine teams ranked in the GolfWorld top 10 and 17 ranked in the top 25.

As a team, the Tigers pulled together to post their best round of the weekend at an even-par 288, giving the team an 18-over-par 882 tournament total and a tie for second-place in the NCAA Fall Preview.

Volleyball tops Mississippi State
The Auburn volleyball team improved to 14-8 and 6-5 in conference play with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-21) sweep over Mississippi State on Sunday at the Student Activities Center.

The 14 total wins are the most Auburn has recorded this decade and the team’s SEC mark is the best start in conference play for the Tigers since the 1999 season.

Leading the way offensively for the Tigers were Sarah Bullock and Morgan Johns.

Bullock finished with a match-high 12 kills, while Johns tallied 11 kills and closed the match with a .429 attack percentage.

The Tigers take to the road and head to Athens, Ga., for a mid-week SEC match against Georgia at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Men’s tennis take singles, doubles titles
NEW ORLEANS, La. — Tim Puetz came away with the singles title, while he and partner Alex Stamchev captured the doubles title on Sunday at the Wilson/ITA South Regional in New Orleans held on the campuses of Tulane and University of New Orleans.

With the wins, the pair qualified for the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships held in New Haven, Conn., on the campus of Yale University, Nov. 5-8.

Women’s tennis excels at ITA Regional
The Auburn women’s tennis team had its best day of the young 2009 season today on Day 3 of the 2009 ITA Southern Regional at Yarborough Tennis Center in Auburn.

Freshman Caroline Thornton won the consolation singles bracket of the tournament and senior Fani Chifchieva advanced to the main-draw finals with a semi-final victory in the final match of the day.

Men’s golf set for David Toms tourney
The Auburn men’s golf team arrived in Baton Rouge, La., on Saturday in preparation for the 2009 David Toms Intercollegiate hosted by LSU.

The two-day, 54-hole event kicks off with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. today. Auburn’s five-man lineup includes sophomore Kyle Kopsick, senior Cole Moreland, redshirt freshman David Zickler, sophomore John Stembridge and sophomore Will McCurdy.