Oct. 11, 2015
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AUBURN, Ala. - Junior Casie Ramsier did it all Sunday afternoon, scoring twice and helping the 8th-ranked Auburn Soccer team rebound from Thursday's loss to defeat No. 17 Texas A&M, 2-0, at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
Ramsier tallied her fourth multi-goal game of the season this afternoon, giving her 10 for the season with 22 points. Ramsier becomes the first Auburn player to have 10 or more goals in a season since Sarah Steinmann tallied 12 in the 2003 season.
As for Auburn, the win gets it back on track for its 12th win of the year and fifth win in conference play for 15 points in the conference standings. Texas A&M falls to 11-4-0 and 4-3-0 in SEC play. The win over the Aggies is also Auburn's first in the all-time series since defeating them in the 2012 SEC Tournament, second overall.
The shutout is Auburn's first since earning the clean sheet against Old Dominion (1-0) on Sept. 9, but it marks the first in SEC play this year.
In the net, redshirt freshman Sarah Le Beau earned her 12th win of the year and sixth shutout, but only had to make one save in the contest as Auburn's defense limited the Aggies to only 13 shots, all but one off-target.
Unlike its last three victories, Sunday's win was on the less dramatic side. After a scoreless first half that saw a great defensive battle between the two teams, Auburn finally lit up the scoreboard in the 49th minute as Ramsier blasted a right-footed strike from just outside the top of the box.
After Auburn caused a turnover just on the right side of midfield, Hannah Alspach started the counter-attack and found Ramsier with only one defender in front of her. Ramsier slowed a little to give herself space between the defender a shot a laser into the upper 90, giving Auburn the 1-0 lead.
Just 12 minutes later, Auburn doubled its lead with another Ramsier score. As Auburn tried to work the ball down the right side, Kristen Dodson teamed up with Alspach to beat the A&M defender on the flank, opening up the right sideline for Alspach to send in the cross.
Alspach, like she's done many times before, perfectly placed the cross right in the middle of the box, where Ramsier finished with the header to put Auburn up 2-0. Ramsier's header was placed right off the left post, giving the keeper no chance to make the save.
Alspach finished with two assists in the match, matching her career-high set last year against Mississippi State (Oct. 23, 2014).
Post-game Quotes from head coach Karen Hoppa and selected players:
Head coach Karen Hoppa on her team's victory over Texas A&M:
"We're obviously thrilled with today. Texas A&M is the defending conference champion and went to the College Cup last year and they're going to be one of the best teams in the league. Coming off Thursday, we didn't feel good about our performance, I'm proud of the team and how they rebounded today."
Head coach Karen Hoppa on strong start to the game and getting two goals in the early minutes of the second half:
"I thought we started the game really well today. We didn't get a goal, but for the first 15 to 20 minutes, I thought we played our best soccer of the season. We faded a little in the first half at the end and that's something we talked about at halftime. Our team did a great job getting better in the second half and after Casie Ramsier scored those two goals, the team did what they had to do to hold on for the win."
Head coach Karen Hoppa on if she thought this was a complete game from her team:
"Today was obviously much better than South Carolina. We faded toward the end of the first half, but overall, from start to finish, it was a great performance from our team."
Junior Casie Ramsier on rebounding from Thursday's loss at South Carolina to beat Texas A&M:
"Rebounding today like we did was huge. We needed this. South Carolina was a good team, but we knew we needed to regroup and come out and play today against Texas A&M."
Junior Casie Ramsier on what the team was able to do right in Sunday's match against Texas A&M:
"I think today we were able to connect more passes and find our midfielders. I don't think we did that enough against South Carolina and it showed today as we had more offensive chances."
Up Next:
Auburn goes back on the road Friday as it travels to Ole Miss for a 7 p.m. matchup in Oxford, Miss., on SEC Network+. It will be the only match for the Tigers as they hit the home stretch of the regular-season with four matches remaining.
For more information on Auburn soccer, visit AuburnTigers.com, follow the team on Twitter, @AuburnSoccer or follow them on Facebook at Facebook.com/AuburnSoccer.