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Nov. 1, 2005

AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn soccer team will play Florida in the opening round of the 2005 Southeastern Conference Soccer Tournament at the Orange Beach Soccer Complex in Orange Beach. The Tigers and Gators will face off at 2:30 p.m. CT on Thursday.

"Florida is a tough (first-round) draw but if you look at any of the top five teams in the league, any of them would have been a tough draw," AU Head Coach Karen Hoppa said.

Auburn (6-11-1) enters the tournament as the sixth seed and will face a Florida (13-4-1) team that defeated the Tigers, 2-1, on Sept. 25 in Gainesville, Fla.

"The good thing is we get Florida while we are fresh. I thought one of the keys to Florida beating us during the regular season was their depth. They scored two goals late in the first half when they had made a lot more subs than we could have," Hoppa said.

The Tigers had played in Orange Beach earlier this year as Auburn spent part of its preseason practicing at the complex with the goal of making it back there this week.

"We are going to try to make Orange Beach our home field because it is in our state and we played there in the preseason. Hopefully that will be an advantage for us," Hoppa continued. "It will be great to get Florida on a neutral site and on a little bit bigger field than what they play on at home."

The Tigers enter the tournament needed to win out to receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament after reaching the national tournament the past four seasons.

"The girls know this might as well be the NCAA's for us because if we lose our season is over. We need to play with that urgency. We know that we have to win Thursday to play Friday. If we can get by Florida we will look beyond Florida on Friday," Hoppa said.

Auburn has played in the SEC Tournament in each of the past four seasons, advancing to the championship game in 2001, the only other time Auburn has been the sixth-seed in the tournament.

Fans wishing to listen to the game can hear Nathan Ealy's call on WZMG 910 AM in the Auburn-Opelika area or on the internet at www.auburntigers.com. Live stats will also be available at www.secsports.com.