Auburn Soccer Earns Bid To NCAA Tournament; To Play Central Florida

Printable Version of NCAA Brackets

NCAA Selection Banquet Photo Gallery

November 11, 2002

AUBURN - For the second consecutive season, the Auburn soccer team has earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament as the Tigers, 14-4-2, will meet up with Central Florida (18-4) in the first round.
 
Auburn will meet up with the Golden Knights on Friday, Nov. 15 at 3:30 p.m. CDT on the campus of Florida State. This will be the fourth meeting between the schools with Central Florida holding a 3-0 record over Auburn all-time.

Tiger head coach Karen Richter came to Auburn from Central Florida, where she was the head coach for six seasons. All of UCF's wins against Auburn came with Richter at the helm.

"I was happy to see our name come up on the screen," said Richter as she watched the ESPNews broadcast of the selection for the tournament. "You always have to be thrilled with an at-large bid because that is always a challenge.

"Florida State has an impressive facility with a great field similar to ours in that it is fast and our team is accustomed to the weather in Tallahassee. Central Florida is a hot team right now, but fortunately for us, we know a lot about their eight seniors because we (Richter and assistant head coach Matt Mott) recruited them before coming to Auburn. They have great leadership and with an older team, they have that advantage over us."

The Tigers concluded their regular season winning the Southeastern Conference title and coming up with a school record 14 wins. In the SEC Tournament, Auburn was upset by No. 8 seed LSU 1-0, but earned the at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Also earning a bid for the first round in Tallahassee and the right to play Florida State is SEC foe Ole Miss. The winner of that competition will meet up with the winner of the Auburn vs. Central Florida match on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 12 p.m. CDT.

Tickets may be purchased at either www.seminoles.com or by calling the FSU ticket office at 850-644-1830 or 1-888-378-6653. Adult tickets are $7 and student, youth (ages 3-18) and senior (ages 50 and older) tickets are $5.