The UGA equestrian team will advance to the championship round of the Southeastern Conference Championship after defeating the Texas A&M Aggies 13-7 at the UGA Equestrian Complex. Georgia entered the weekend as the No. 2 seed and will face the No. 1 seed Auburn Tigers Saturday, March 26 at 2 p.m.
With the win, the Bulldogs received all four MOP honors by Liza Finsness in Equiation on the Flat, Meg O’Mara in Equitation Over Fences, Heather Schmidt in Horsemanship, and Claudia Spreng in Reining.
“It’s very exciting to be competing in the SEC championship round for the third year in a row,” Georgia head coach Meghan Boenig said. “We will certainly go in and do video review tonight to look at the little points and places that we can tighten some things up and build on some momentum from today. Winning the four MOPs is fantastic, but we know we are facing a very strong team tomorrow that we need to be error free and at the right peak.”
Competition started in Horsemanship, with the Bulldogs dropping a 3-2 decision to the Aggies. Texas A&M’s Avery Ellis and Kaci Fisher took the first two points of the event, but Georgia’s Bailey Anderson’s 147 was enough to top Logan Pluhar’s 146.5 to put the Bulldogs on the board. Texas A&M’s Carolyn Day took the next point. In the anchor position for Georgia, Schmidt took the final point with an MOP-earning 152.5-148.5 win over Rachel Lucht.
Georgia made up the deficit in Equitation Over Fences, with Texas A&M winning the first point and Georgia taking the last four. Texas A&M’s Alex Desiderio topped Madison Newman before O’Mara answered with a 177-162 win over Rachel Hake, which earned her MOP honors. Leylan Gleeson outscored Marlena Parker 163-150 with Finsness grabbing the final point 170-151 over Rebekah Chenille.
After two events, Georgia led Texas A&M 6-4.
Georgia dropped the first point in Equitation on the Flat before picking up the next two. Georgia’s Finsness earned MOP honors in her defeat of Texas A&M’s Parker 171-155 before Newman topped Hannah Williams 140-130. Texas A&M grabbed another point before O’Mara closed out the event with a 174-165 victory over Audrey Gallagher. Georgia led Texas A&M 9-6 with only Reining remaining.
The Reining team defeated Texas A&M 4-1 to clinch Georgia’s spot in the championship round. Georgia and Texas A&M split the first two points. Kyndall Harper defeated Jaci Marley 134-132.5 before Texas A&M’s Pluhar edged Lindsey Cheek 136-133.5. Georgia’s Spreng rode to an MOP-earning 136-134.5 defeat over Ashley Dotson before Lauren Garmon took the win over Sarah Kate Grider 136.5-135.5. Graysen Stroud won the final point of the day edging Texas A&M’s Hannah Jachow 132.5-132.
The Bulldogs defeated the Aggies for the third time this season with a final score of 13-7 to advance to the championship round against Auburn on Saturday afternoon.
The consolation round between No. 3 seed Texas A&M and No. 4 seed South Carolina will be held Saturday, March 26 at 9 a.m., followed by the championship round at approximately 2 p.m. Admission and parking is free all weekend.
For more information, please visit SEC Championship Central at www.georgiadogs.com, where live scoring will be provided. Follow @UGAEquestrian on Twitter for updates.
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