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2011 SEC SOCCER CHAMPS
No. 7 Seed Auburn 3, No. 4 Seed Florida 2
Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa
On her team’s 3-2 victory against fourth-seeded Florida in the SEC Championship …
“It’s amazing and I couldn’t be more happy for the girls. The effort they showed all week was just
phenomenal. Our defending has kind of been our Achilles heel this season and we haven’t been happy
with it, but we finally clicked defensively. What a job they all did, especially Kim Spence, not being a
veteran back for us. What an awesome feeling; I’m really proud to bring this trophy home to Auburn.”
On Katy Frierson being a part of all three goals Sunday and earning Most Valuable Player honors …
“Katy is one of the best players in the country and she took a leap of faith in coming to Auburn. She could
have played for anyone in the country and so I’m just so pleased for her that on the biggest stage of her
senior year, she proves to be the best player in the conference. It’s just very exciting and I’m really proud
of her. The performance that she put forth today was incredible.” On what Katy Frierson has done for the Auburn program during her playing career …
“I always say she is the epitome of a student-athlete. She is a straight-A student, gets it done in the
classroom and gets it done on the field. She is obviously one of the best soccer players in the country.
Just the way she represents Auburn in every facet of her life just makes us all proud. On the field, she
makes everybody else around her better. Every day that she has been here at Auburn, she has made our
program better. She makes the players around her better and we’re just really proud that she’s an Auburn
Tiger.” On Ana Cate’s game-winning goal …
“We just broke free at the right time. We had been defending forever and we broke through at the right
time and played a great ball down the flank. Julie King, who we had moved forward from her defensive
position, made a great run and just whipped that ball in there, and what about the run and effort from Ana
Cate to finish it for the game-winner?” On earning the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament …
“We put forth a lot of effort, so the key is for us to take a few days and recover. We’ll enjoy this and
recover, but know that our work isn’t done. Hopefully this tournament will give us momentum going into
the NCAAs.” Auburn Player #23 Katy Frierson, Sr., MF
On her team’s 3-2 win against fourth-seeded Florida for the SEC Tournament Championship …
“It was just an amazing game for us. We know that Florida is one of the best teams in the league. They
are very dynamic and can score goals easily. We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough game;
our defense has been playing lights out these past few games and they kept that play going. Luckily we
were able to get a couple of goals and we were able to counter them and get some turnovers. It was an
unbelievable game. We were holding on for the last 10-15 minutes, just bunkering and defending. There’s
a lot of character in that and I think it’s such a great win for this team.” On being a part of Auburn’s first-ever SEC Tournament Championship …
“It’s something that’s very special. Coming in, this is what we play for and this is why we do what we do
every year. I’ve never won anything since I’ve been here at Auburn, so winning the SEC Championship is
pretty special and I’m just blessed to be a part of this team.” On being a part of each of Auburn’s three goals on Sunday …
“The first goal was off a free kick and Heather [Havron] served a great ball in and Julie [King] went up and
challenged it. Defenses have to be aware of Julie, so there were several players around her and it just
popped out to me and I just hit it right on frame. The second one, I’m not really sure, it took a deflection
and went in. The third one was a phenomenal finish by Ana [Cate]. I played the ball to Julie and she
served the ball right to Ana’s foot and Ana tapped it in for the game-winner. They were all three really
good goals and we’re just really happy.” On winning the SEC Tournament as the No. 7 seed …
“We had a rough SEC regular season this year. We knew that it was going to be a challenge coming in,
but the seed thing didn’t really matter for us. It was really more matchups and we got some good
matchups and we were able to get wins against those teams that we lost to during the regular season. It
was kind of a little redemption for us, but it’s also why we play and this was our goal coming in this year.”
On the upcoming NCAA Tournament …
“Hopefully we will be at home for the first game, but this isn’t the end of our season. This is the beginning
to the postseason in our minds, so we’re just really looking forward to getting some good matchups, good
wins and keep playing with the heart that we have been.” Auburn Player #1 Ana Cate, Jr., MF
On her team defeating fourth-seeded Florida for the SEC Tournament Championship …
“This is unreal and a dream come true for everyone on this team. We kind of had an up and down SEC
season, so to come in here, we had a chance to play three awesome teams and avenge some of our
losses, especially against Florida. We had a heartbreaker against them in the regular year. This is
awesome; this is a total team effort, 22 players.” On her game-winning goal …
“Katy chipped like she has been doing all year. She played an awesome ball to Julie down the right side
and she picked me out. It was really easy for me; she did the hard part, I just had to tap it in.”
On winning the SEC Tournament as the No. 7 seed …
“This is what you work for all day, every day and in preseason practice. It’s a long season and we’ve been
practicing since August. This is what you dream of, that feeling scoring the goal and waiting for those last
10 seconds to tick off the clock, they’re the longest seconds of your life. It’s awesome.”
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