SEC finale was not just rocking in Reed Arena Saturday as Texas A&M equestrian traveled to Alabama to face No. 1 Auburn in the Aggies’ last SEC match of the season before the SEC Championships later in March.
No. 3 Texas A&M (9-3, 3-3 SEC) competed in their final road match of the season Saturday against the No. 1 Auburn Tigers. After both teams finished butting heads between western and hunter seat advantages, the dust settled with a 10-10 tie. Unfortunately for A&M, the tie-breaker result had the Tigers finish ahead with a victory.
“We tried to force some things to start the day,” Auburn head coach Greg Williams said via auburntigers.com. “Texas A&M came in here and rode hard. But I’m proud of the team for staying in it, not panicking, and pulling out a victory.”
Auburn did in fact show some force when the Tigers simply outmatched the Aggies in hunter seat competition with a 4-1 start to the day in equitation over fences. Junior Haley Webster was the only Aggie to come out of the event with a victory.
Amid the rapid Auburn start to the day, senior Logan Pluhar, juniors Rachel Lucht and Kaci Fisher and sophomore Avery Ellis were able to regain some Aggie momentum with a 4-1 finish in Horsemanship for western competition. A&M’s hunter seat team relied heavily to do the unlikely and defeat the Tigers at home in the final event of the day. The Aggies’ competed in the equitation on the flat competition where the Aggies were again outplayed 3-2.
Pluhar returned after her horsemanship victory with the Aggies down 10-9. After her run, she was scored ahead of her competition 70.5-69 to settle the Aggies tie with Auburn. The Aggies’ efforts varied among the competitions, but large margin individual losses by junior Izzy Norton and senior Marlena Parker attributed to Auburn’s tie-breaking victory.
However, this marks the closest attempt at victory while at Auburn in some time for A&M. Last season, the 2012-13 season, and even back to the 2007-08 season, the Aggies have struggled with Auburn on the road. In all meets at Auburn, the Tigers were able to pull ahead to 11-9 victories.
“I am very proud of how our team fought for every point today,” Texas A&M head coach Tana McKay said to 12thman.com. “No team has gone to Auburn and come this close to winning, so I am happy with the way we performed.”
The Aggies return to home for their final meet of the season before the SEC Championships. After the loss Saturday against Auburn, A&M has the chance to relax with a two week break before welcoming the No. 8 SMU Mustangs to the Hildebrand Equine Center in College Station on Mar. 19.
