Aug. 19, 2011
Auburn fired 11 shots on the No. 18 Wake Forest defense but it could not overcome seven Wake Forest shots on goal as Auburn fell, 4-1, on Friday night in the season-opening soccer match for both programs.
"In general we played probably better soccer than we played most of last year, we just had one issue that they can do and we can't and that's putting balls on the frame," Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. "We out-played them for the most part as far as general soccer except for in the final third where they put seven of their nine shots on frame and we only had four of our 11. That was the difference. They were clinical and professional in their finishing and we weren't."
Wake Forest (1-0-0) carried a 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime as Marisa Park slotted a goal to the opposite post from a step inside the 18 just eight minutes into the match.
The game remained a one-goal contest until the 53rd minute as Katie Stengel scored the first of her two goals, firing it in from 20 yards out to make it 2-0.
Auburn (0-1-0) closed the gap to a goal just five minutes later as Tatiana Coleman ran on the endline and found Chelsea Gandy-Cromer a step outside the six. Gandy-Cromer fired a shot through the hands of Wake Forest goalkeeper Aubry Bledsoe to make it 2-1.
Wake Forest wasted little time to get the goal back as Stengel scored off a one-time six minutes later and Jackie McSalley iced the game with a one-time from Kelsey Zalimeni in the 82nd minute.
The match was played in front of 1,811 fans, which was the fourth-largest crowd in Auburn Soccer Complex history.
Auburn returns to the field on Friday, Aug. 26 when it plays host to Middle Tennessee State.