Sept. 7, 2014
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OXFORD, Miss. - Sophomore Brooke Ramsier fired a free kick into the high right corner of the net in the 78th minute Sunday afternoon to break a 1-1 tie with Minnesota and propel Auburn to the 3-1 win over the Golden Gophers. The win was Auburn's fifth in a row and fourth with at least three goals scored.
The Tigers are now 5-1-0 on the young season while Minnesota falls to 3-3-0. Auburn owned the shot advantage in the match, 16-8, seven reaching the target. In the net, redshirt sophomore Alyse Scott upped her record to 5-1-0, also winning her fifth match in a row.
"I was really happy with our team overall," Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. "Minnesota is a great team and they play really quality soccer. There was one play we weren't happy about and that was Minnesota's goal. I thought our team responded well and played a great second half. Our defense was rock solid and we scored two brilliant goals."
For Ramsier, the score was her first of the season and first game-winner of her career. After Auburn struggled to find any open looks at the net, a Minnesota foul, gave the Tigers the opportunity they were looking for. Ramsier lined up the kick and sent a beauty over the Gopher wall, curving the ball out of reach of the keeper and into the net.
"It felt awesome," Ramsier said. "To know I had the confidence in my team, I just relaxed and felt great knowing I had my teammates support. We've gone out so many times and taken those same shots in practice. Knowing the coaches had that confidence in me as well, it felt great."
"Brooke works on those shots all the time," Hoppa said. "We had a lot of confidence in her and our assistant coach James Armstrong said she could shoot from there and told her to take it. She scored a great game winner."
The Tigers took the early lead back in the first half in the 17th minute as freshman Courtney Schell delivered an encore performance from Friday. Off the Ramsier corner from the near side, Schell was able to get some separation from the defense and head the ball in, giving Auburn the 1-0 lead.
Schell now has two goals on the season, tying her for second on the team with Kristen Dodson and Ellie Leek.
Minnesota evened the score towards the end of the first half in the 33rd minute. Off a free kick from 40 yards away, Becca Roberts sent a high ball into the box just over the Auburn heads and allowed Rachel McCloskey to sneak a header past Scott for the score. The goal was McCloskey's first of the season.
The possession arrow of the match went back and forth for the majority of the second half as neither team was able to put together a solid offensive play to break the tie.
Ramsier's free kick goal seemed to have opened the flood gates, however, as just four minutes later junior Logan Beal scored her third goal of the season in the 82nd minute and Auburn's third goal of the game. Ramsier sent in a high kick from midfield, finding Dodson just in front of the goal. Showing patience, Dodson made the extra pass back to Beal, who beat the keeper to give Auburn the 3-1 advantage.
Beal now has a team-leading three goals on the season. As for Ramsier, with her second assist of the match, she took home the top point honors for the afternoon, notching four to go along with her game-winning goal.
The Tigers return home for their next two contest, facing Samford on Friday at 7 p.m. and Milwaukee on Sunday at noon. Both matches will be played at the AU Soccer Complex as the Tigers will look to keep their perfect home record intact. Also, both matches will be televised on SEC Network+ on the WatchESPN app or on WatchESPN.com.
For more information on Auburn soccer, visit AuburnTigers.com, follow the team on Twitter, @AuburnSoccer or follow them on Facebook at Facebook.com/AuburnSoccer.