Following a late January win over Oklahoma State University, the Auburn Tigers equestrian team is prepared to defend its No. 1 national ranking in the coaches poll against the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs.
Georgia (8-1) handed Auburn (7-1) its only loss of the season when the Tigers traveled to Athens in the fall, but the women have put the loss behind them and are ready to take on one of their toughest competitors.
"We feel very good about it," said Stephanie Rucci, sophomore western rider. "We're at home so we know these horses, but we want nothing more than to beat them, and especially on our home turf.
"I think it's the attitude and the drive that really is going to push us to the win."
Rucci said the coaches are preparing them for the upcoming meet, which will be Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Auburn Equestrian Center, by practicing with different kinds of horses, lots of video work and one-on-one practices.
"Anything can happen on show day, so we just gotta bring it all," Rucci said.
Coach Greg Williams said he hasn't been doing anything differently to prepare his team.
"They've been winning; they've done extremely well," Williams said. "That's really one of the hardest things to do, is making sure you don't change things up--that you don't feel the need to tweak stuff or do anything different while they are winning."
Williams said the team is very similar to last year's national championship winners.
"They have the ability to put others ahead of themselves, and that's just so important," Williams said. "We are very talented, and when you couple that with being unselfish it's a hard force to beat."
Sophomore hunt seat rider Rachel Lin said assistant coach Jessica Braswell has been working each team member on individual areas of weakness.
The riders will spend time on two to three different horses during practice to familiarize themselves with the animal they may ride during competition.
"UGA is a really good team, and we also have a very good team," Lin said. "I would like to hope that we would have the home advantage, but it all really comes down to the riding."
Having the home advantage not only means riding a familiar course, but also that competitors and their opponents will ride horses from the home team's stables.
Lin said road competitions are more difficult because the horses are unfamiliar.
"You only ride the horses at the other schools once or twice a year maybe," Lin said. "So for a lot of the freshmen and a lot of us, it's not as easy to go there and get on a horse and compete right away."
After Saturday's match against UGA, the Tigers will travel to Blythewood to face the University of South Carolina Gamecocks Feb. 25.
"Georgia and South Carolina are about equally competitive for us--any of the SEC schools, really," Lin said. "South Carolina we actually beat last year, so hopefully that will work to our advantage again this year."
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