Sept. 20, 2015
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Playing a strong possession game in the midfield along with a three assist outing by junior Brooke Ramsier, the 14th-ranked Auburn Tiger soccer team defeated Tennessee Sunday afternoon, 3-1, netting its first conference victory of the season.
The win for Auburn (8-1-0, 1-1-0 SEC) evens up its Southeastern Conference record at 1-1 and is its eighth win overall on the season. The win also marks the 100th SEC victory for Auburn in program history, joining four other league schools to ever reach the milestone.
It also marked Auburn's first win over Tennessee since 2011 and first win in Knoxville since 2009.
For Ramsier, it's a new career-high for assists in a game, the previous high of two coming against Minnesota last season in a 3-1 victory. The Texas-native now has four assists this season and 10 points making her the first Tiger this season to reach the 10-point plateau.
All three of Auburn's midfielders consisting of Brooke Ramsier, her sister Casie Ramsier and sophomore Courtney Schell played the full 90 minutes this afternoon for the second time this season. Those three Tigers won the majority of the 50-50 balls in the middle third throughout the match, keeping Auburn on the offensive.
Senior Sophie Simantel got Auburn on the board first after the Tigers earned a corner in the 21st minute. Off the kick from Brooke Ramsier, the ball was headed to the near post and looked to be headed towards Casie Ramsier.
However, a bad jump by Casie Ramsier allowed Simantel to fly in and win the ball with the header past the keeper. For Simantel, it was her first goal of the season and third of her career.
Tennessee responded 11 minutes later with an equalizer from Ariel Kupritz, but that tie didn't last as Auburn, again, retook the lead in the 36th minute.
With the Tigers on the counter, a series of passes starting with Samantha Solaru at midfield eventually reached freshman Charlotte Van Ishoven on the left side. The Belgian had a great first touch and left-footed one from just inside the left corner of the box for her second goal of the year.
Auburn took that 2-1 lead into halftime, scoring twice on a team that had only given up one goal all season entering Sunday's match.
The Tigers weren't finished, however, adding another goal in the 62nd minute from sophomore Kristen Dodson. Auburn, which had been great on the counters all day, got ahead of the Tennessee defense starting with Ashton Brock on the interception and finding Brooke Ramsier near midfield.
Ramsier found Dodson at the top of the box, who in turn fired a laser from 20 yards out, beating the keeper in the upper 90. For Dodson, it was her second goal in as many weeks and put Auburn ahead by two goals.
Overall in the contest, Auburn won the shot category, 15-13, six finding the frame. Redshirt freshman Sarah Le Beau locked up her eighth win of the year, notching four saves in the win.
Post-game Quotes from head coach Karen Hoppa and selected players:
Head coach Karen Hoppa on her team's victory over Tennessee:
"It was a great total team effort today. They had a great mentality because we know every single one of these SEC games are going to be tough. I loved the way we started, which was fast. When we got the first goal, we relaxed and you can't do that on a team like Tennessee. Credit to our team, their mentality and our leadership. We came right back and got the one goal lead before halftime. Second-half was a battle. I thought we lost some of our possession rhythm, which hurt us a little bit. Kristen (Dodson) got a great goal, though, that sealed the game for us."
Head coach Karen Hoppa on the midfield controlling possession:
"Credit to our midfield, our possession was great. Our entire midfield was the MVP of this game. They worked really hard in the second half and were the key throughout for us."
Junior Brooke Ramsier on Sunday's 3-1 win over Tennessee:
"I thought we came out hard. We started out slow last week and didn't want the same thing this week. We knew we had to start fast and play a full 90 because nothing ever comes easy in this league."
Junior Brooke Ramsier on the midfielders strong play Sunday:
"It's our job as midfielders to keep possession and get the ball to our front line. It's good for us to connect like we did today."
Senior Sophie Simantel on Auburn getting its first SEC victory Sunday vs. Tennessee:
"We knew we had to rebound from Missouri today. We knew we had to be conservative in the back and keep the ball as well as we could. This was a good win for us and we just want to keep it going."
Turning Point
After Tennessee evened the match at 1-1 with 15 minutes to play in the first half, Auburn retook the lead on a left foot from freshman Charlotte Van Ishoven. Auburn got on the counter attack and worked the ball to the attacking zone. Brooke Ramsier flipped the field with a cross-field pass to Logan Beal, who fed it right to Van Ishoven in the left corner of the box. Van Ishoven took one step and fired the left footed shot low past the keeper, the put Auburn ahead for good. It was Van Ishoven's second goal of the year, leading all Auburn freshmen.
Up Next
Auburn returns home next weekend for a two-game tilt, starting with LSU on Friday at 7 p.m., followed by Florida on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both matches will be televised on SEC Network+ and played at the AU Soccer Complex.
For more information on Auburn soccer, visit AuburnTigers.com, follow the team on Twitter, @AuburnSoccer or follow them on Facebook at Facebook.com/AuburnSoccer.