Auburn, Ala. - It was a match that lived up to its billing. Perennial NCEA and SEC forces Georgia and Auburn met as the No.1 and No.2 ranked teams in the country respectively. Georgia brought a 3-0 record into the Auburn Horse Center to face an Auburn team that looked a little shaky in an earlier loss to South Carolina. Though Georgia riders were awarded the Most Outstanding Player Award (MOP) in all four disciplines, the scrappy and talented Tigers jumped to an early lead, let it slip, then took control at the end to earn a 12-8 re-bound win.

Auburn started off the match with a 3-2 win in Equitation over Fences. Christina Lin, Elizabeth Benson, and Jennnifer Waxman picked up points for Auburn. Liza Fisness, who would win the MOP in both equitation disciplines, and Megan Southam picked up points for the Bulldogs.

Watch highlights on the Auburn Athletic YouTube channel.

In Horsemanship the Tigers earned another 3-2 win to take a 6-4 lead with the match half over. Griffin Knight, Stephanie Rucci, and Lacy Watson earned points for Auburn. Heather Schmidt and Sara Parr won for the Bulldogs with Schmidt earning MOP honors.

After the half Georgia gained ground with a 3-2 win of their own in Equitation on the Flat. Wins by Finsness and Leylan Gleeson evened the score at 6 then Auburn riders Benson and Jennifer Delman took two of the last three points. Megan Southam earned the third point for Georgia, her second point of the day.

With the score at 8-7 Reining was the deciding discipline. Georgia sophomore Lauren Garmon put forth an MOP performance to take the first point and even the score at 8, but Auburn swept the final four points to secure the win. Knight, Rucci, Cheyenne Cracraft, and Katsy Leeman scored for the Tigers.

"The minute we started the meet you could feel it, you could tell they were working together…We had some tough times in the hunt seat arena and still pulled out a tie against a great team," Auburn head coach  Greg Williams said "(Having the western squad excel) it's just like what we see from them in practice every week."