Nov. 6, 2011
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ORANGE BEACH, Ala. - Auburn earned its first-ever SEC Tournament Championship with a 3-2 win over Florida on Sunday afternoon at the Orange Beach Athletic Complex.
With the win, Auburn becomes the lowest seed to ever win the title (seventh) and the first program from the SEC's West Division to win the tournament championship.
"It's amazing and I couldn't be any more happy for the girls," head coach Karen Hoppa said. "The effort they showed all week was just phenomenal. What an awesome feeling; I'm really proud to bring this trophy home to Auburn."
Auburn (14-6-2) took the early lead when senior All-SEC performer Katy Frierson buried a straight-away goal for the 1-0 advantage. The senior from Homewood, Ala. took the rebound off a Heather Havron free kick and netted the goal from just inside the box.
The goal, scored in the 12th minute of play, gave Frierson sole possession of Auburn's all-time points record with 99, she would later up that total to 102. The assist was Havron's fifth of the season and 14th of her career.
Auburn was able to stretch its lead to 2-0, when SEC All-Freshman Team forward Tatiana Coleman attempted an acrobatic bicycle kick that was deflected to a streaking Frierson, who tapped it home for the goal with just more than 15 minutes remaining in the first half.
The goal gave the senior two for the day, while the assist was Coleman's eighth of the year. Frierson's goal upped her total to eight in 2011 and 30 in her career - the third-most in program history.
Junior keeper Amy Howard made a big save on a Florida advantage with 8:18 left before the half. The Mandeville, La., native finished the day with six saves as she battled through a barrage of 18 shots by Florida.
Florida (16-7-0), which was the defending tournament champions and had won a SEC-record nine tournament titles, closed the gap to 2-1 with 2:38 left to go in the first half after Jo Dragotta chipped a free kick over the three-person wall to Holly King. King then settled and slipped the ball into the lower left corner of the net past a diving Howard for the goal.
The goal was the first allowed by the Auburn defense in 220 minutes of tournament play.
Florida didn't waste any time scoring the equalizer after halftime as Annie Speese found Jillian Graff sprinting into the box and after one touch, the freshman tied the game in the 54th minute with her goal.
Auburn took back the lead with 26:39 left in the second half behind a great series of passes that started with a simple touch from Frierson to Julie King, one of the SEC Co-Defensive Players of the Year. King found a streaking Ana Cate on a cross that the junior nestled in the back of the net for the game winner, 3-2.
The goal was Cate's team-best ninth of the season.
Four Auburn players were named to the All-Tournament team with the tournament MVP, Frierson, leading the way. She finished the game with two goals and an assist.
"Katy is one of the best players in the country and she took a leap of faith in coming to Auburn," Hoppa said. "She could have played for anyone in the country and so I'm just so pleased for her, that on the biggest stage of her senior year, she proves to be the best player in the conference. It's just very exciting and I'm really proud of her. The performance that she put forth today was incredible."
Joining Frierson on the All-Tournament team were Cate, Howard and King.
Auburn will now wait to learn its opponent for next weekend's first round of the NCAA Tournament. The tournament field and host sites will be announced on Monday on NCAA.com at 3:30 p.m. CT.
"Hopefully we will be at home for the first game, but this isn't the end of our season," Frierson said. "This is the beginning to the postseason in our minds, so we're just really looking forward to getting some good matchups, good wins and keep playing with the heart that we have been."
Information regarding the upcoming NCAA Tournament will be posted on AuburnTigers.com when available.
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