Auburndale is one of four Polk County teams playing in the SEU Showcase on Friday and Saturday at Southeastern University. The other county teams in the 12-team event are Ridge Community, McKeel and Lakeland Christian.

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Right?

For the Auburndale girls soccer team, head coach Tawande Kaseke has no problems with how his team is finishing games. But how his Bloodhounds start games matters.

In the three matches prior to Auburndale’s 2-2 tie with Winter Haven in the final match before the Christmas break, the Bloodhounds trailed at halftime but outplayed their opponents in the second half to come away with one win and two ties.

So getting off to better starts is the big goal for the Bloodhounds this weekend.

Auburndale is one of four Polk County teams playing in the SEU Showcase on Friday and Saturday at Southeastern University. The other county teams in the 12-team event are Ridge Community, McKeel and Lakeland Christian. Each team plays two games on Friday and one on Saturday. Games both days begin at 9 a.m. and will be played at the stadium field or the practice field.

The Bloodhounds made a big turnaround last season, their first under Kaseke, improving from 8-10-2 to 14-5-2. This season has seen mixed results. Although they’ve lost just three of nine matches, they also have won just twice as they enter the weekend with a 2-3-4 record.

"It’s been an interesting learning curve for the girls the last four games," Kaseke said. "We’ve been down at halftime, but they found a way to come back into it. The learning curve as been steeper this year."

With the exception of an 11-6 loss to Montverde, Auburndale has been in every match. Its other losses have been 5-4 to St. Cloud and 4-0 to LCS in a match that was 1-0 at the second half water break.

"The biggest challenge we’ve had is just chemistry for the whole group on the defensive end. Just defending as a team has been a problem for us," Kaseke said. "That’s what put us in positions where we’re down 2-0 20 minutes into the game. Then we take control of the game and come back, but it’s always too late."

Tightening up defensively will be important the rest of the season as the Bloodhounds will be without one of the top offensive players in the county, Brianna Brudy, who will miss the remainder of the season. Brudy, who has 13 goals in six games, missed games early while recovering from an upper body injury. She was hurt again against George Jenkins just prior to the break, although she is healthy now.

Because of injuries she’s suffered in recent years, Brudy, a sophomore, will sit out the remainer of the season and focus on individual skills and getting healthier. She still works out with the team but avoids contact. She is expected to return next season.

Even without Brudy, Auburndale is dangerous offensively with Tyra Thomas (8 goals, 3 assists) and Brooke Smith (4 goals, 6 assists) leading the way.

Despite losing Brudy to Auburndale, Ridge heads into the weekend with a 7-2-2 record. The Bolts’ worse loss was 9-1 vs. McKeel, but they tied Auburndale. beat George Jenkins and lost by one to Lakeland Christian. Freshman Noemi Casique (8 goals, 2 assists), sophomore Megan Rhonemus (6 goals, 6 assists) and senior Josalyn Martinez (7 goals, 1 assist) have helped make up for the loss offensively of Brudy and Elasha Naylor, who graduated.

McKeel comes into the event with a 6-3-2 record against top competition. Its losses are to undefeated Lake Nona, Berkeley Prep (10-2-1) and Holy Names (9-0-1). The Wildcats tied Lakeland Christian.

LCS is undefeated at 9-0-1. With its match against powerhouse St. Johns Country Day rained out in December, coach Jason Streets is looking forward to playing some top teams this weekend.

Roy Fuoco can be reached at roy.fuoco@theledger.com or at 863-802-7526. Follow him on Twitter: @RoyFuoco.