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No. 24 Florida Gators soccer hosts the Auburn Tigers at Donald R. Dizney Stadium Friday evening with just four games remaining in the regular season.
The Gators are tied for second in the SEC standings with Arkansas on 15 points. South Carolina leads the conference with 16 points. The Gators’ last home match of the season is against the Gamecocks on the 27th.
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More on Auburn
Auburn sits in seventh in the SEC with three wins and three losses in conference play. The Tigers have lost their last two matches at Mississippi State and home to Texas A&M.
The Tigers are led by senior midfielder Bri Folds. The Lakeland, Florida native leads the team in overall points, goals and assists. In 939 total minutes this season, she has six goals and three assists, averaging a goal or assist every 104 minutes played.
However, in conference play, Folds’ numbers are down. In 364 minutes, she has one goal and one assist.
As a team, Auburn has outscored its opposition 21-16. They average 1.5 goals per game and concede an average of 1.14 goals per game.
History
Historically, the Gators have the advantage against Auburn in their head-to-head series. Florida is 17-9-2 when facing the Tigers. However, in recent years, it’s been the Tigers who have bested the Gators.
We made history the last time we played in Gainesville.
We'll look to make some more magic happen Friday night!#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/8I0XHpdZHQ
— Auburn Soccer (@AuburnSoccer) October 16, 2019
In the last seven meetings between the Gators and Tigers dating back to 2015, Auburn has won four and drawn one.
“Auburn always comes in here fired up,” said Gators head coach Becky Burleigh. “I can’t ever remember an easy game against Auburn.”
Junior forward and Canadian-international Deanne Rose is looking forward to the matchup. Although the team has struggled in recent years against the Tigers, she believes the Gators are ready.
“I think it’s going to be interesting, because I think we’ve grown into our own shoes as a team, so it’s going to be a really good battle.”
Last Time Out
The Gators faced Kentucky at home in their last game on Sunday. Although they ended up winning 4-2, Burleigh expected her team’s performance to be sharper than what it was.
She says that the Gators didn’t impose themselves in the game early enough, leading them to conceding the first goal of the game. Although they did come back to secure the win, it should’ve been easier against a team that has lost all of their conference games in the season so far.
Game Details
Florida and Auburn will kick off Friday at 7 p.m. Listen in live on ESPN 98.1 FM/850 AM WRUF, or watch on the SEC Network +.
