This Friday night the Auburn Tigers soccer team will take on the Arkansas Razorbacks for its first home SEC game.
Auburn has outscored opponents 11-5 and lost just once this year while playing in the familiar confines of the Auburn Soccer Complex.
"We're excited to be home again after being on the road for two weeks," said senior forward Becca Howell.
Senior forward Caitlin King shared Howell's enthusiasm for returning home to face Arkansas and Louisiana State University.
"It's huge just like any sport you have to win your home games and win some road games," said head coach Karen Hoppa. "It's just so hard to play on the road."
Auburn had a five-day rest after coming off a heartbreaking double overtime loss to the University of Mississippi 3-2 on a muddy Sunday afternoon in Oxford, Miss.
"Ole Miss is always a tough game, and the field conditions didn't help either," King said.
The Ole Miss game concluded a four-game road swing for Auburn.
Although Auburn outscored its opponents 10-4 on the road, it only won one game.
Both King and Howell know the importance of victories on the road.
"Getting a road win is really important and really difficult," Howell said. "On the road you basically start the game down a goal."
The Tigers are 1-2-2 away from home.
Auburn has also failed to win an overtime game this year, as it is 0-2-3 in such games, all double overtimes.
"We're just not finishing our opportunities (in overtime)," Hoppa said. "We're getting good quality looks, but we're just not finishing."
Auburn is 4-3-3 going into Friday night's game. The Tigers are 1-1 in SEC play.
Arkansas is 6-2-2, but hasn't won an SEC game in two tries.
The Razorbacks were shut out in their last home game against the University of Georgia.
Offensively the Razorbacks failed to score off of five shots.
Defensively they allowed a pair of goals on 20 shots from the Bulldogs, they have only allowed five goals in 10 games this year and have had five shut outs.
However, the Tigers have gone 3-0-1 in four years against Arkansas, including two wins at home.
"We've had success every time we've played them," Howell said. "And we've come prepared every game."
King agreed the Tigers have been prepared for each meeting between the two.
"It's kind of one of those teams that we've had their number for no particular reason other than we match up really well against them," Hoppa said.
Arkansas head coach Erin Aubry has roots in Auburn. Her first year coaching she was one of Hoppa's assistants at Auburn.
"She's got a new system in place," Hoppa said. "And their players are doing really well this year."
Hoppa said she was going to review the Arkansas game film, but she has a good idea of what to do.
"We just have to find out where their weaknesses are," Hoppa said. "The key is going to be getting behind their defense and not taking shots from far away."
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