The defending SEC champions, No. 5 Auburn equestrian kicks off a new season this Friday, Sept 27 as it looks to improve upon a 2023-24 season that ended in the semifinals of the NCEA tournament last season.
The Tigers will host the national championship runner up and now No. 1 TCU Horned Frogs in a heavyweight matchup, for the first match of the season.
“We are really looking forward to opening our season Friday against TCU,” Head coach Jessica Braswell said at her latest press conference before the season. “A tough way to open, but it presents a huge opportunity, which is what we have been talking to our team about.”
Braswell enters second season as the head coach of the Tigers and is coming off her first season in which she went 9-6 and won the SEC championship over Texas A&M before losing to Oklahoma State in the NCEA Championships.
Auburn comes into the season with a lot of returning production from the previous season as fifth years Ellie Ferrigno and Olivia Bradley lead the way, accompanied by a group of five seniors.
“We have got a good group of returners a lot of seniors which is great,” Braswell said when talking about Auburn’s roster going into the season. “We're planning on starting four freshmen, so about 20 percent of our points will come from them.”
The Tigers are looking to capture their sixth straight SEC championship this season but have bigger aspirations of bringing home the school's first national championship since the 2018-19 season.
Auburn will play a 13-game regular season, matching up with familiar SEC foes in Texas A&M, Georgia, and South Carolina twice each, as well as the back-to-back national champion SMU Mustangs on Saturday, Oct. 19 and Friday, March 7.
“For our second meet we go on the road to South Carolina, so just getting a really tough meat in before we start SEC play will be huge.” Braswell said when asked about the importance of scheduling hard teams early to help gauge young riders. “As we look at the postseason that's always what we are aiming for the whole year, so having those tough teams early will give us an idea of where we are.”
Auburn will also get a chance at revenge on Friday, Nov. 1 against Oklahoma State, as they look to avenge their 8-10 loss in the first round of the NCEA Championship series.
The Tigers play at 3p.m. CST at the Auburn University Equestrian Center, hoping to start the season the best way you can, a win over the number one team in the country.
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Luke McClure is a senior from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in sports production. He joined The Plainsman in fall 2023.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @lukemcclure0
