Gamecocks to Face No. 1 Auburn on the Road

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 9 South Carolina equestrian team hits the road for its first away meet of the 2018-19 season as it travels to Auburn, Ala., to face the No. 1-ranked Tigers on Friday at 3 p.m., CT at the Auburn University Equestrian Center.
 
Friday will be both Carolina (0-1) and Auburn’s (1-0) first SEC meet of the year. Last weekend, the Gamecocks opened their season by hosting No. 6 SMU at One Wood Farm in Blythewood. After coming down to the last ride, the Mustangs just edged the Gamecocks, 9-8.
 
“We learned a lot from our competition on Saturday,” head coach Boo Major said. “We had a lot of very fixable mistakes. That’s one of the things we’re working on. When you go on the road, you’re going to be riding a bunch of different horses that maybe you’ve ridden before or maybe you haven’t. One thing’s for sure is that you haven’t ridden them since last spring and they could have changed quite a bit.”
 
During the 2017-18 season, the two programs met twice, with Auburn coming out on top both times, 13-6 and 12-7. Overall, South Carolina is 14-19 against the Tigers since 2006-07. Prior to Auburn claiming nine-consecutive meets, the Gamecocks controlled the series with a six-meet win streak.
 
“We’re looking forward to Auburn. They always host a good meet. We’re looking forward to seeing what horses they have down there, how the competition is going to run and seeing how things fare. The tests and the patterns they have are great and we’re looking forward to a great competition.”
 
Coming off of MOP honors against SMU, senior Madison Brayman and junior Caroline Gute look to propel their team against the defending NCEA National Champions. Brayman earned the high score in equitation on the flat with a 70, while Gute tallied the highest mark in reining with a 72.5.
 
Auburn comes into the meet off a, 15-4, defeat after competing at UT Martin on Thursday, Sept. 20.
 
Live scoring will be available for Friday’s meet at https://bit.ly/2Qfce6w.