Karen Hoppa can confidently say her Auburn soccer team is playing its best ball of the season at just the right time.

It’s kind of a new feeling for her.

“It’s great when your team can peak at the right time,” Hoppa said. “And we have not done that in past years. The last three years, we only won one SEC Tournament game.

“This year, we really clicked and are peaking at the right time.”

Auburn won three SEC Tournament games this year, capturing its first tourney title in program history and becoming the first No. 7-seed to run the table with shutout wins over No. 2-seed LSU and No. 3-seed Tennessee before a 3-2 victory over fourth-seeded Florida in the championship at Orange Beach on Sunday.

That led to another first — the Tigers’ first-ever seed in an NCAA Tournament.

Auburn, which earned an automatic berth to the NCAAs by winning Sunday, was named the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Monday and will host Utah State (15-4-2) in the first round Saturday night at 7.

Only 16 members of the 64-team field earn national seeds, and Auburn (14-6-2) played itself into one of them.

“It feels really good to get seeded and make history,” senior defender Julie King said. “That’s what we did (Sunday), is make a little bit of history, winning the SEC Tournament.

“I’m really proud of this group. It’s a special team.”

King played an important role in making that first bit of history Sunday, taking a ball from Katy Frierson and crossing it from the right side of the box to a waiting Ana Cate, who slid it into the net for the eventual game-winning goal with 26:39 to go against the Gators.

Frierson said, with the team’s season resume, the players had a good feeling they’d get into the tournament even without a win at Orange Beach.

But where’s the fun in that?

“Last week was about winning an SEC championship and getting a national seed,” Frierson said. “We kind of had the mentality that we were going to win the championship, and we were able to take care of business.”

The Tigers, who bowed out to South Florida on the road in the NCAA Tournament first round last year, also have La Salle (15-1-3), Maryland (10-5-4), Illinois (11-6-4), Notre Dame (10-7-3), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (16-4-1) and No. 2-seed Oklahoma State (19-1-2) in their part of the bracket.

If Auburn beats Utah State — the WAC champion — it plays the La Salle-Maryland winner at the home field of the highest remaining seed in its bracket.

The Tigers are making their sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and are hosting for the third time, after serving as hosts in 2004 and 2008.

All eight SEC teams that made the conference tournament also made the NCAAs, with No. 2-seed Florida, Auburn and No. 4-seed Tennessee earning national seeds.

Only the ACC (nine) placed more teams in the field.

“It’s another monumental step for our program,” Hoppa said. “And I think it says even more for the SEC. We win the conference, the SEC gets eight teams in — that’s a record — and it shows you how strong the conference is. I think that’s why we got the seed.”

And, if the Tigers advance, they very well could be testing out that conference strength in later rounds of the NCAA tourney.

But, first things first, the Aggies on Saturday.

They’re more than enough to keep Hoppa and her team occupied.

“The fact they’re in the NCAA Tournament tells me they’re a good team,” King said. “Every game from here on out is going to be a battle. That’s just what I’m planning on.”