AU ROUNDUP: Soccer to be on TV twice

Special to the News

Published: August 27, 2008

The Auburn soccer team will have a pair of its matches televised this season.

Auburn will play at Vanderbilt on Sunday, Sept. 28, in a game televised on SEC-TV and then will have its Thursday, Oct. 23 match at Georgia televised on the Fox Soccer Channel.

Auburn and Vanderbilt will kick off at 2 p.m. on FSN as part of the SEC-TV soccer package, while the Thursday night contest at Georgia has been moved to a 7 p.m. kick for the NSCAA College Game of the Week on FSC.

Women’s golf ranked ninth in preseason poll
NEW YORK — Golf World released the results of the latest preseason College Coaches’ Poll, and the Auburn women’s golf team is ranked No. 9 with 407 votes. 

Head coach Kim Evans, who begins her 15th season, and her Tigers begin the season Sept. 7-8 at the NCAA Fall Preview hosted by Georgetown University at the Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mill, Md.

Southern California is the No. 1 team in the poll, as the Trojans received 14 of the 26 first-place votes. UCLA, which received eight first-place votes, is No. 2 in the poll.  Duke (No. 3), Arizona State (No. 4) and Oklahoma State (No. 5) round out the top five. 

For the third consecutive year, Duke senior and three-time national player of the year Amanda Blumenherst is No. 1 on the list of the “Top 50 Female Players to Watch.”  Auburn sophomore Cydney Clanton is No. 14 on that list.

Auburn returns six letterwinners from last season’s team that finished tied for 12th at the NCAA Championship. That group includes four of the five members that competed at the NCAA Championship.

Leading the way will be Clanton, who was a First-Team All-American and First-Team All-SEC selection last year. Clanton also garnered NGCA Freshman of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year honors. 

Joining Clanton as starting returners are senior Mariana Macias, junior Candace Schepperle, a two-time Second-Team All-SEC honoree, and sophomore Sarah Thead. Also back for another year are junior Karlin Beck and senior Lauren Hawkins. 

The Tigers add two newcomers in Madison Overby from High Point, N.C., and Patricia Sanz from Madrid, Spain.

For a look at the complete women’s poll, see http://www.golfworld.com.

Volleyball tabbed fifth in division by SEC coaches
The Auburn University volleyball team was voted to finish fifth in the SEC Western Division for the third consecutive year by the league’s head coaches, conference officials announced Tuesday.

In 2007, the Tigers finished with an 11-20 record, going 3-17 in SEC play to finish sixth in the SEC West. AU returns eight players from last season’s squad, four of whom were starters, and brings eight newcomers to the team for the 2008 season.

“We are about where we expected we would be,” said first-year head coach Wade Benson. “We have to go out and earn the right to be considered one of the top teams, but I am excited to see that the coaches think we are moving forward.”

LSU, the 2007 SEC West champion, tops the division with 10 points and is followed closely by Ole Miss in second with 21 points.

Alabama comes in at third (27), followed by Arkansas (41) and Auburn (44). Mississippi State rounds out the division in sixth with 52 points.

In the SEC East, Florida comes out on top with 11 points while also earning the distinction of being the favorite to win the SEC overall crown with seven of 11 possible first-place votes.

Kentucky comes in second with 18 points, followed by Tennessee (33), Georgia (38) and South Carolina (40).

Auburn opens its 2008 campaign on Aug. 29 with the War Eagle Invitational. The Tigers are slated for a 7 p.m. match against Samford in the Student Activities Center.