The Auburn softball team will play a total of eight games during the fall exhibition season in October and play a total of 26 home games during the 2010 regular season, head coach Tina Deese announced Friday.
The fall exhibition season runs the first four weeks of October, with the Tigers playing each Thursday during the month. Auburn opens play Oct. 1, with a 5 p.m. game against Pensacola Junior College and a 7 p.m. game against Georgia Perimeter College. All fall exhibition games will be played at Jane B. Moore Field.
For the 2010 regular season, the Tigers begin play at the Kajikawa Classic, hosted by Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., on Feb.
11-14.
Auburn plays Washington in the first game of the season, Feb. 11, at 6:30 p.m. The Tigers will also play Nevada-Reno (Feb. 12), Arizona State (Feb. 12), Oregon (Feb. 13) and Wisconsin (Feb. 14) during the tournament.
Auburn opens its home schedule Feb. 19-21, by hosting the Tiger Invitational. Central Michigan (Feb. 19), Ohio University (Feb. 19), Nebraska (Feb. 20) and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (Feb. 21) round out the field for the Tiger Invitational.
The Michigan Wolverines will invade Jane B. Moore Field on March 2, before the Tigers host the War Eagle Classic Tournament on March
5-7.
Auburn begins Southeastern Conference play at home with a March 13-14, three-game series against the Kentucky Wildcats. SEC foes Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Arkansas also visit Jane B. Moore Field during the 2010 season.
“It is motivating for our team to look at all the opportunities that we will be faced with this spring,” Deese said. “Opening up with the 2009 and 2008 national champions in Tempe is something that should push us with every squat, sprint and hitting repetition we perform this fall. I am excited for our athletes, especially the seniors, to have the chance to play teams like Michigan and Nebraska on our field.”
The 2010 SEC Softball Tournament will be hosted by LSU in Baton Rouge, La., and is scheduled for May 13-15.
Soccer falls to Missouri
Auburn goalkeeper Amy Howard made nine saves in Auburn’s 2-1 loss to Missouri on Friday night at the Auburn Soccer Classic.
Chelsea Yauch scored her first goal of the season, as Auburn (2-1-2) fell for the first time this season, snapping its unbeaten streak at four.
“Missouri had a game plan and they stuck to it. They played with intensity and played for things like corners and restarts and they capitalized on two of them,” Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. “I thought we did a good job of matching their intensity but we lost our composure for a long stretch in the second half; we couldn’t hold possession and I think that hurt us because we couldn’t get a hold of the ball as much as we wanted to. When we did have the ball we created some great chances.”
Missouri (4-2-0) fired off 25 shots to Auburn’s 11 and was able to draw nine corners to just two for Auburn.
Missouri took a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute when Meghan Pfeiffer scored off of a Kristin Andrighetto corner kick. The one-goal deficit marked the first time this season that Auburn had trailed in a match, snapping a streak of 412 minutes of playing even or ahead.
Yauch tied the game at 1-1 just over eight minutes later (20:54) when she one-touched a loose ball in the box past Missouri goalkeeper Tasha Dittamore for her first tally of the season and sixth of her career.
The two teams went to the half tied and played even until Krista Kruse redirected a Michelle Makasini shot past the outstretched arms of a diving Howard in the 76th minute for the game-winning goal.
The crowd of 1,747 was the fourth-largest in the Auburn Soccer Complex’s history.
Texas Tech (4-2-0) handed Vanderbilt (5-1-0) its first loss of the season, 3-1, in the opening game of the Classic. Each team scored a first-half goal but Brittney Harrison and Conner Williams each scored within 10 minutes of each other to take the win.
Auburn will face Texas Tech at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday while Vanderbilt and Missouri will play at 9 a.m.
Men’s golf in 7th at Carpet Capital
DALTON, Ga. — Auburn sophomore John Stembridge fired an opening round 69 to lead all but one golfer on Day 1 of the Carpet Capital Collegiate at The Farm Golf Club.
The Norcross, Ga., native finished Friday in second place, just one stroke off leader Jonathan Randolph of Ole Miss.
“I came out and made an early bogie but just kept it steady and bought back to two-under,” said Stembridge. “It’s a thinking man’s course. You’ve got to find your way around some obstacles. The greens are trecherous — real fast today.“
Auburn shot a 292 to finish the day in seventh, four strokes behind tournament leader and third-ranked Alabama.
“We didn’t play our best today and are still just four strokes off the lead,” said Stembridge. “Four strokes in college golf isn’t a lot. We’re definitely in position to make a run for the win.“
Redshirt freshman Jackson Beindorf (74) tied for 24th followed by sophomores Will McCurdy (75) and Kyle Kopsick (75), both tied for 31st. Redshirt freshman David Zickler (76) tied for 40th.
“We played pretty well today,” said first-year Auburn head golf coach Nick Clinard. “We got off to a good start through eight. There were maybe four or five three-putts down the stretch that cost us some strokes.
“Today was a good day to judge what kind of a team we are. Our work ethic has been outstanding. Our guys are listening to the message that they are great golfers and we are going to be a successful team.“
Trailing team leader Alabama (289) are No.15 South Carolina (290), No. 18 Tennessee (290) and No. 19 Clemson (290) in a three-way tie for second. Chattanooga (291) is in fifth followed by No. 3 Georgia (292), Auburn, No. 11 Georgia Tech (295), Wake Forest (298), East Tennessee State (299), No. 24 Texas Tech (302) and Ole Miss (304).
Three players finished tied for third behind Randolph and Stembridge — Alabama’s Lee Knox (70), Clemson’s Ben Martin (70) and South Carolina’s Paul Woodbury (70).
The Tigers are set to tee of the front nine at 8:50 a.m. today with Wake Forest and East Tennessee State.
Women’s tennis opens at SEC Fall Classic
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Auburn women’s tennis team opened up their 2009-2010 campaign Saturday in a tournament hosted by Vanderbilt University.
The team came away with a total of three victories on opening day.
On the singles side, Auburn took home two individual wins as freshman Plamena Kurteva won a 6-2, 6-4 decision over Soledad Podlipnik of Ole Miss in her Auburn debut. Auburn’s other singles victory went to senior Heather Bybee, who defeated Megan Gornet of Vanderbilt in straight sets 6-2, 6-0.
"This is probably one of the toughest fall tournaments in the nation and inspite of having a team that's been riddled with illness and injuries, I felt we had a very good opening day,” said head coach Tim Gray of his squad’s performance.
In doubles play, a pair of freshman in Paulina Schippers and Caroline Thornton teamed up to down Mississippi State’s Radko Ferancova and Danielle Terpko 8-5.
"We had some opportunities that we let slip away at a spot or two, but all in all, I was very pleased with a lot of the things we did today. We competed very well on every court. We are young, but I feel we have solid talent to build on."
Today’s action begins at 10 a.m. with doubles play followed by singles action. The lone Tigers remaining in the winners bracket are Bybee, who will take on South Carolina’s Rita Maisak, and Kurteva, who will talk on Kaitlin Burns of LSU. Schippers and Thornton will draw Whitney Wolf and Keri Frankenberger of LSU in doubles action.
Volleyball sweeps Coastal Carolina
STATESBORO, Ga. — The Auburn volleyball team picked up a 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-20) victory over Coastal Carolina on day one of the Bash in the ‘Boro tournament on the campus of Georgia Southern University.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 6-3 on the season.
We did a good job serving better, which is what we wanted to do today,” head coach Wade Benson said. “Our offensive rhythm wasn’t as sharp as we wanted and Coastal Carolina did a nice job passing. Overall, we did a nice job overcoming a fairly average performance and a few individuals put together nice plays to help us win.”
Auburn freshman Katherine Culwell recorded her first double-double of the season, picking up a career-best 15 kills and 12 digs. Junior Morgan Johns added 10 kills, while libero Liz Crouch had 17 digs. Freshman Sarah Bullock finished with 12 digs and a game-best three service aces.
The Chanticleers (2-5) were led by Chelsy Kimes and Amanda Russell, as each finished with eight kills.
The Tigers opened up the first set with a 6-0 run, highlighted by three-straight kills from Culwell. Auburn continued to hold its lead, going up by as much as 8 at 12-4. Coastal Carolina pushed and brought the score within five at the 13-8 mark, but an 8-3 run by the Tigers pushed the team to a 25-17 victory.
Set 2 saw Auburn catch the quick lead at 3-1, but with the score tied at 6 apiece, the Chanticleers went on 4-2 run to take their first lead of the match at 10-8. Coastal Carolina held the lead throughout most of the match, but a big 6-0 run pushed Auburn ahead, 22-19. The Chanticleers did not give up, tying the score at 24 apiece. A kill from Bullock and another from Johns, however, gave Auburn the 26-24 win.
Coastal Carolina started Set 3 with a quick 6-2 lead. The Tigers fought back, going on an 8-3 run to take the 10-9 advantage. The two teams went back and forth, seeing six ties and two lead changes. At the 16-16 mark, Auburn put together a 5-2 run, highlighted by a pair of kills from Bullock. The Tigers continued to push and would close the match with a 25-20 win.
Auburn takes on Wake Forest today at 9 a.m. on Day 2 of the Bash in the ‘Boro tournament. The team closes out the weekend with a match against host Georgia Southern at 6 p.m.
Former Tigers clinch homecourt in playoffs
The Phoenix Mercury, led by former Auburn standouts DeWanna Bonner and Le’Coe Willingham, clinched home court advantage throughout the WNBA playoffs with a 92-84 overtime win Thursday over the Seattle Storm.
Along with defeating the Storm this week, Phoenix took down the Atlanta Dream on Saturday, 100-82. The Mercury are currently riding a three-game winning streak heading into the final game of the regular season.
In the win over Atlanta, Bonner had a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds. Willingham added 8 points and four boards. Against Seattle, Bonner contributed four points and four rebounds, while Willingham poured in 13 points and five rebounds in the victory.
Bonner’s rookie year averages now stand at 11.3 points per game and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per contest. She continues to rank third among rookies in points and first in rebounding. The Fairfield native is also a top 40 scorer and a top 25 rebounder overall in the league.
Willingham is now averaging 10.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. The Augusta, Ga., native ranks in the top 50 in the league in both categories.
The Mercury will host the Los Angeles Sparks in the regular-season finale Sunday at 2 p.m. The game can be seen nationally on ESPN2.
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