The Auburn women's soccer team faces several tough obstacles as it works toward its goal of a conference championship.
"Our main goal that we try and focus on is to win the SEC, whether it be in the regular season or in the SEC tournament," said senior forward Ashley Marks. "We want to get into the NCAA Tournament again and make it to the Sweet 16 to make a name for Auburn soccer."
With an SEC record of 2-2 after two weeks of conference play, the Tigers will face two nationally ranked teams: No. 20 South Carolina, Oct. 8, and No. 6 Florida, Oct. 10.
South Carolina (9-2-2, 3-0-1 SEC) has had a successful season so far, with its only losses coming against the universities of Minnesota and Louisville and its tie against SEC-opponent Vanderbilt.
The team enters Friday night's game averaging 2.08 goals per game.
The Gamecocks are the reigning SEC Champions after defeating LSU in the 2009 championship game.
The Florida Gators, potentially the most experienced and talented team on Auburn's schedule, has wins over No. 14 Florida State and No. 19 Duke.
No. 3 North Carolina handed the Gators its only loss earlier this season.
With an impressive offense led by sophomore midfielder McKenzie Barney, junior midfielder/forward Tahnai Annis, sophomore midfielder/forward Erika Tymrak and senior goalkeeper Katie Fraine, the Gators average 2.58 goals per game.
Marks said the Tigers met to discuss the key factors to beating South Carolina and Florida.
"We had a team meeting today trying to figure out what we can do to win," Marks said. "We have to play for 90 minutes as a team because for the past couple of games, we've only been playing well for about half of the game."
Coach Karen Hoppa said the team will look at scouting reports and film to prepare for the two games.
After the team opened conference play with a victory over Mississippi State and a loss to Ole Miss, the Lady Tigers faced its first SEC road test against the Arkansas Razorbacks (3-6-2, 0-2-1 SEC).
The Tigers carried its overall record of 7-3-0, ambitious goals and momentum from several non-conference wins into the game, but the Razorbacks made it as difficult as possible for Auburn.
The Tigers prevailed though, notching its eighth win of the season by a score of 3-2.
Katy Frierson, Marks and Jessica Rightmer scored goals, with Julie King, Mary Nicholson and Ana Cate earning assists.
The second road test of the year came against LSU, who entered the game with a less-than-stellar record of 4-5-3, 1-1-2 SEC.
Kellie Murphy's header off of a corner kick by Taryne Boudreau put LSU up 1-0 in the 23rd minute.
A successful penalty kick by Katy Frierson in the 59th minute accounted for Auburn's only goal.
LSU added another goal and held on to beat Auburn 2-1.
Auburn totaled 12 shots, and goalkeeper Amy Howard had four saves.
While the team is disappointed with the loss to LSU, King said the team knows what it has to do.
"The team is ready to refocus and get ready for the games this weekend," King said. "We can't dwell on Sunday's loss--we just have to learn from it, fix our mistakes and win these two games this weekend."
Hoppa said she is disappointed about the losses to Ole Miss and LSU, but said she feels that while the players are "frustrated with the two losses," they must look forward to improving their play on both sides of the ball.
Hoppa made it clear the Tigers would not be dwelling on the losses.
"As a team we are frustrated," Hoppa said, "but there isn't a lack of confidence."
The Tigers (8-4-0, 2-2-0 SEC) play South Carolina 7 p.m. Friday and Florida 2 p.m. Sunday.
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