Oct. 16, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. - Caitlin King scored Auburn's quickest goal of the season, knocking in the first of her two goals in the match's seventh minute, as Auburn picked up a crucial, 3-0, win over Vanderbilt on Friday night. Katy Frierson had three assists on the night as Auburn moved back to .500 overall and within two points of Ole Miss for second in the SEC West at 6-6-3, 3-4-0 SEC.
"I am really proud of our team. It's tough to go on a three-game losing streak like we did against three of the best teams in the conference, and the response tonight makes me really excited for the last four matches of the season," Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. "We did everything we needed to do. We played with energy, we attacked with numbers and we scored some great goals."
King, who had not registered a goal in over a month, snapped her personal drought at the 6:39 mark, firing a shot upper 90 on Vanderbilt goalkeeper Rachel Bachtel from just outside the 18 for her third goal of the season to give Auburn an early 1-0 lead. It was also Auburn's first goal since a 2-1 win over Arkansas on Oct. 2 after going scoreless in the last three matches.
"This week in practice we focused a lot on getting into the attack and using our offense as much as we could, and that's what I tried to do," King said. "I tried to concentrate on making every run I could and asking myself if I could do more. I think I did that tonight and I want to take that into the next four games."
Just under eight minutes later Mary Coffed pushed the Auburn advantage to two goals when she went 1v1 with Bachtel off of a Frierson feed, ripping the shot from the top of the 18 for her third goal of the season.
"One of our keys today was to attack from all positions, starting with our defense," Coffed said. "That was a huge part of our offensive success tonight, which we desperately needed."
King salted the game away in the 65th minute when she found herself going one on one with Bachtel as the two raced for a ball at the top of the 18. King switched directions on Bachtel, who slid trying to get the stop, allowing King to fire off an uncontested shot for her fourth goal of the season and the 14th of her career.
"We need to learn from tonight, what allowed us to be successful, and we need to continue to do that on Sunday," Hoppa said. "We need to be able to transition quickly, we need to run with numbers, we need to play behind the line when it's on and we need to play in front of it when it's not on. We just clicked tonight."
Frierson, who also had the second assist on both of King's goals, now has seven assists on the year and 14 in her career, which is tied for ninth all-time at Auburn with Chrissy Culver (2001-04) and Megan Stam (1998-01).
Ashley Marks and Chelsea Yauch each had their first assists of the season.
Auburn dominated the shots column, firing off 21 to Vanderbilt's 13.
Auburn goalkeeper Amy Howard and Bachtel each made five saves.
Vanderbilt dropped to 7-7-1, 1-6-0 SEC.
Ole Miss (9-3-2, 3-1-2 SEC) and LSU (9-3-3, 5-1-1 SEC) played to a scoreless tie, allowing Auburn to pick up two points on each in the division title chase.
Auburn returns to the field at 1pm on Sunday when it plays host to Kentucky.