Oct. 8, 2010
AUBURN, Ala. - No. 14 South Carolina scored twice in the final 11 minutes of the match to hand Auburn a 3-1 loss on Friday night at the Auburn Soccer Complex. Ana Cate had tied the match at 1-1 in the 66th minute for Auburn but the Auburn defense couldn't keep the South Carolina forwards from putting the game away with two goals from inside the six in the waning minutes of the match.
"We played hard and we played with them and we really felt like we had most of the better run of play until the end," Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. "Give Kayle Grimsley credit, she scored a couple of great goals. Two looks and she got two goals, which is really unlucky for us."
A very evenly played match which saw Auburn (8-5-0, 2-3-0 SEC) get off 10 shots to South Carolina's 11, Auburn was playing from behind for close to 30 minutes after Grimsley scored the first of her two goals for South Carolina (10-2-2, 4-0-1 SEC) in the 40th minute, knocking in a rebound of a Kelsey Barr blocked shot.
Auburn just missed getting the equalizer off the foot of Jessica Rightmer a minute and a half after Grimsley's goal as she rocketed a shot off the crossbar and out of play following an Auburn free kick.
Down a goal at the half, the match started to get much more physical in the second 45 minutes of play as South Carolina was whistled for six fouls and Auburn for nine, with South Carolina collecting a pair of yellow cards.
The physical nature of the match led to Auburn's game-tying goal as Maddie Barnes found Mary Coffed battling a defender in the box. Coffed's shot went high and was initially stopped by South Carolina goalkeeper Mollie Patton but she was unable to secure it and the rebound was headed in by Cate amongst a group of South Carolina defenders.
Grimsley went 1v1 with Auburn goalkeeper Amy Howard in the 80th minute and beat her for the eventual game-winner, collecting her seventh goal of the season. Brooke Jacobs then put the match away with her sixth goal of the season in the 84th minute.
Auburn returns to the field on Sunday at 2pm CT when it plays host to No. 6 Florida. The match will air live on ESPNU.