Oct. 18, 2013
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The Auburn Tigers soccer team went to its second-straight double-overtime Friday night against Tennessee and earned its third tie of the season by a score of 1-1. Freshman Casie Ramsier scored her team-leading sixth goal of the year after an assist from sophomore Haley Gerken early in the second half, but the Lady Vols scored the equalizer in the final minute of regulation to force overtime.
The tie moves Auburn's overall record to 4-8-3 and 0-5-2 in Southeastern Conference play, while Tennessee moves to 7-5-3 overall and 2-3-2 in conference play.
"It was really a terrific performance for us overall," Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. "Unfortunately, for us, we really let some chances get away from us in the first half. That's where we could've put this game away and we didn't. That's where there's a little bit of growing pains for us. Credit to our girls, they really got after it and had a brilliant goal. Overall, I'm really happy with our performance and I thought we played some great soccer tonight."
The entire first half of Friday's match was very similar to the Tigers match with Georgia last week. Both Tennessee and Auburn had multiple scoring opportunities in the first 45 minutes of play, but neither was able to scratch anything across the goal line as both teams went to the locker room scoreless.
Gerken led Auburn in the shots category in the first half with three, but none were on goal. The story of the opening half was the Auburn defense. Junior goalkeeper Alicen Wright, who was coming off the double overtime shutout last Friday, notched three saves and withstood five Lady Vol shots. Going into tonight's halftime, Auburn hadn't given up a goal in over 200 minutes of play, spanning three matches.
In the second half, Auburn finally found pay-dirt on the foot of Ramsier. In the 60th minute of play, Gerken made a nice cross from the far side right to Ramsier, who one-timed it in off the crossbar from the top of the box. The goal is Ramsier's sixth of the season as she continues to lead the team in the category for the year.
For nearly the remainder of regulation, Auburn's defense did a nice job of keeping the ball near the middle of the field and it seemed they were on their way to their first conference victory. However, Tennessee dropped in the equalizer on a breakaway in the final minute. The Lady Vols had a clear path to the goal, but Wright made the save on the first shot, one of her six on the night. Unfortunately, Tennessee's Katie Lenz was right there for the rebound score to tie the match at one.
In both overtime periods, neither team was able to get many good looks at goal. The Tigers tallied the only two shots in the first extra period, while Tennessee had the only three shots in the final period.
Gerken and Casie Ramsier led the way for Auburn with three shots on the night. Ramsier, Chelsea Gandy-Cromer and Samantha Solaru tallied the three shots on goal for the Orange and Blue.
Auburn returns to the pitch this Sunday when they face the Missouri Tigers in another crucial SEC matchup. First kick is slated for 1 p.m. Fans in the Auburn area can listen to the match locally on WEGL 91.1 or online at AuburnTigers.com.
For complete coverage of the Auburn soccer team, be sure to check AuburnTigers.com, follow them on Twitter, @AU_Soccer or like the Auburn University soccer page on Facebook.