Sept. 11, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn goalkeeper Amy Howard made nine saves in Auburn's 2-1 loss to Missouri on Friday night at the Auburn Soccer Classic. Chelsea Yauch scored her first goal of the season as Auburn (2-1-2) fell for the first time this season, snapping its unbeaten streak at four.
"Missouri had a game plan and they stuck to it. They played with intensity and played for things like corners and restarts and they capitalized on two of them," Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. "I thought we did a good job of matching their intensity but we lost our composure for a long stretch in the second half; we couldn't hold possession and I think that hurt us because we couldn't get a hold of the ball as much as we wanted to. When we did have the ball we created some great chances."
Missouri (4-2-0) fired off 25 shots to Auburn's 11 and was able to draw nine corners to just two for Auburn.
Missouri took a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute when Meghan Pfeiffer scored off of a Kristin Andrighetto corner kick. The one-goal deficit marked the first time this season that Auburn had trailed in a match, snapping a streak of 412 minutes of playing even or ahead.
Yauch tied the game at 1-1 just over eight minutes later (20:54) when she one-touched a loose ball in the box past Missouri goalkeeper Tasha Dittamore for her first tally of the season and sixth of her career.
The two teams went to the half tied and played even until Krista Kruse redirected a Michelle Makasini shot past the outstretched arms of a diving Howard in the 76th minute for the game-winning goal.
Dittamore was tested often on Auburn's 11 shots, making seven saves in the match.
The crowd of 1,747 was the fourth-largest in the Auburn Soccer Complex's history.
Texas Tech (4-2-0) handed Vanderbilt (5-1-0) its first loss of the season, 3-1, in the opening game of the Classic. Each team scored a first-half goal but Brittney Harrison and Conner Williams each scored within 10 minutes of each other to take the win.
Auburn will face Texas Tech at 2:30pm on Sunday while Vanderbilt and Missouri will play at 9am.