Aug. 30, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. - Katy Frierson netted the fifth game-winning goal of her career and added an assist as the Auburn soccer team dominated South Alabama for its' first win of the season, a 3-0 victory on Sunday afternoon at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
"We are really pleased to get our first win of the season. We did a good job of doing the things we needed to do to get that third goal and really put the game away," Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. "We talk about the third goal being a game-ender and it did that for us."
Auburn (1-0-2), which posted back-to-back ties to open the season, went up 1-0 in the 28th minute as Frierson smoked her first goal of the season from 30-yards out off of a Monica Afanador assist, beating South Alabama goalkeeper Katie Berry to the top left.
"We needed to come out and score some goals after two tough ties, which both felt like losses," Frierson said. "Once we got that first goal we knew the rest were going to come."
Maintaining possession for the majority of the run of play, Auburn's defense held South Alabama without a shot on goal in the first half while its offense kept the South Alabama (1-2-0) defense playing inside its own 18 for the majority of the match, taking 36 total shots.
"Our forwards and our mids combined better (than in the previous two games), and that's how two of our goals came today. We were happy with the number of corners we created (11 to South Alabama's two) and we were really pleased that we got a goal off of one of those corners," Hoppa said.
Senior defender Lizzie Hamersly headed in her third career goal in the 47th minute, her first since her freshman season of 2006, as she was able to out-jump the USA defense on a Heather Havron corner kick to put Auburn up a pair before South Alabama recorded its first shot.
Freshman Mary Coffed put the match out of reach when Frierson played her a through ball that she launched past Berry from just outside the 18 in the 54th minute.
"I couldn't have asked for a better ball from Katy," Coffed said. "She placed it right in my run and I was able to finish it no problem."
Frierson's three points gave her four on the weekend as she had the first assist on Caitlin King's goal in Friday's 1-1 tie with regionally-ranked Dayton. The sophomore now has 29 points (10 goals, nine assists) in 25 career matches
Amy Howard, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, did not face any shots in 57 minutes of play in goal after making 11 saves on Friday. Caitlin Torie played the final 33 minutes in net for Auburn, making one save.
Auburn returns to action on Friday night at 7pm when it plays host to Kennesaw State.