Nov. 6, 2007

AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn soccer team, seeded fifth in this week's SEC Tournament, will face SEC Western Division Champion LSU in the final game scheduled for Wednesday's slate at the Orange Beach Soccer Complex in Orange Beach. Kickoff is set for 7:30pm CT on Wednesday.

Auburn is the fifth-seed for the first time in school history and will face LSU for just the second time in post-season play. The last time the two matched-up against one another in the conference tournament was in 2002, an LSU victory.

"LSU has a great team and it will be a big match-up for West pride. The game that we played them here was an outstanding, up-and-down game," Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. "Allison Whitworth had a great game to keep them off the board because they have a very talented attack."

Auburn defeated LSU, 2-0, on Oct. 12 in Auburn and holds a 10-4-0 all-time series advantage but it was LSU that took the West crown this year with a 5-2-4 (19.0 points) conference mark while Auburn was second in the West with a 6-5-0 (18.0 pts) SEC record.

Auburn is led offensively by forward Caitlin King (four goals, 11 assists), who is eighth in the country in assists per game (0.61). Joining her on a potent front-line is Auburn's leading scorer Rebecca Howell, who has scored six goals

"LSU will play a 3-5-2 which should open some opportunities for our forwards. Our defense has to step up and defend them better than we did here at Auburn when they out-shot us," Hoppa said. "Whitworth has done a great job for us and has had a great year but we need to take some of the pressure off of her as we go into the playoffs."

The Auburn defense starts with goalkeeper Whitworth, who has a 1.03 goals against average and has posted eight shutouts. In front of her is a backline anchored by juniors Jenn Johnson and Lauren Stewart that has allowed just 19 goals in 18 games.

The winner of the Auburn-LSU match-up will face the winner of the Florida-Kentucky game at 7:30pm on Friday.