Feb. 19, 2011
AUBURN -- The second-ranked Auburn equestrian team defeated No. 6 South Carolina 10-9 today at the Auburn University Horse Center. Both the hunt seat and western teams came away with victories, winning in raw score 774-745 and 5-4, respectively.
The Tigers improved to 9-3 overall and 3-1 in the SEC, earning the No. 1 seed and a bye in the first round of the SEC Championship in March.
*I'm so proud of our girls, fending them off and closing out our home season with a win,* said head coach Greg Williams. *Winning both hunt seat and western with three out of four MVPs is outstanding. Coach Helfer and Neubarth continue to do a great job in getting them ready. I think the credit for winning the regular season SEC goes to those two coaches.*
Auburn fell behind in the first half of competition, as South Carolina (4-6) won equitation over fences 3-2 and horsemanship 3-1.
Senior Ali Loprete and junior Maggie McAlary picked up wins over fences, defeating Kimberly McCormack 78-77 and Morgan Hale 83-81 respectively. Despite falling to South Carolina*s Alex Arute 77-75, Senior Anna Schierholz earned the MVP for the day.
Auburn*s lone point in horsemanship came from sophomore Indy Roper, who defeated Katie Kopf 76-75.5. Senior Mary Casey tied Kelsey Stangebye with a score of 74.5.
In the second half of competition, the Tigers fought back, winning the reining 4-1 and equitation on the flat 3-2.
MVP Grace Socha led the flat riders with the high score on the day, defeating Kelsey Hart 87-69. McAlary defeated Colvin Hedgepeth 82-52 and sophomore Lindsay Portela defeated Paige Dekko 72-71.
Roper earned the reining MVP, defeating South Carolina*s Annie Laurie McDonald 75-71.5. Other Tiger winners included junior Jillian Fuller over Amanda Pope 71.5-69, senior Paige Monfore over Audrey Jewell 72-69.5 and freshman Stephanie Rucci over Chloe Gray 72-70.
Senior Mallory Kolpin won her equitation on the flat exhibition point, defeating Logan Holler 72-71, and Casey won her reining exhibition point, defeating Jordan Brown 67-59.5
The Tigers return to action March 11 against No. 7 Kansas State and No. 10 New Mexico State in Manhattan, Kansas.