Oct. 25, 2015
| ||||||||||||||||
AUBURN, Ala. - The 15th-ranked Auburn soccer team was not able to send its senior class off in style Sunday afternoon, suffering a tough loss to Georgia, 1-0, at the AU Soccer Complex.
"Obviously, we're disappointed with this result," Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. "Credit to Georgia. I thought they fought really hard, we just didn't have enough quality in the final third. We have to be better in the final third and it's something we work on all year. We didn't have it today and that was the difference."
With a nine-match undefeated streak at home coming into Sunday's match, the Tigers were looking to do something no other Auburn team had done before, and that was to finish a regular-season undefeated and untied on the home pitch.
However, even with the opposing records vastly different this season, this year's Auburn-Georgia matchup lived up to the rivalry game that it was billed and was a dogfight to the end.
Georgia's Sydney Shultis broke the 0-0 tie in the 84th minute off a corner that was knocked behind the goal line after bouncing off the bottom of the crossbar. It was her first goal of the year coming from the assist of Taylor Donohue.
The loss drops Auburn's overall record to 12-4-0 and 6-4-0 in the Southeastern Conference. Georgia ups its record with the win to 5-10-1 and 4-6-0 in the SEC.
Auburn has won just two of its last five matches as it heads into the final regular-season match at Mississippi State next Thursday. With Missouri's win earlier today over Vanderbilt and Florida's match with Arkansas tonight, Auburn will not be able to catch the conference leaders in next week's season finale. From now on, it's all about getting a good seeding in the SEC Tournament.
"We have to lick our wounds on this one," Hoppa said. "We have to be able to bounce back and it is something that our team has been able to do all year. We have to make sure we have momentum going into the SEC Tournament."
The Tigers seemed to be on the offensive for much of the game especially in the first half Sunday. Auburn's front line put eight shots on in the first 45 minutes, four on target. Freshman Taylor Troutman led all Auburn players with four shots, one on goal. Samantha Solaru also contributed three shots, two finding the target.
Early in the first half, Auburn had a good look at the goal as Casie Ramsier crossed in a shot deep from the right as it found Kristen Dodson. Dodson headed the ball on, but a great save by Louise Hogrell kept it scoreless. Hogrell finished with five saves on the day.
In the second half, it seemed to be much of the same story for Auburn. Heavy offensive possession in the attacking zone, but not enough good looks. Seven shots were recorded by the Tigers, but only one was on goal.
After Shultis' goal in the final six minutes, Auburn had one more shot on a corner kick from Brooke Ramsier, but each time the ball was near the eight-yard box, Hogrell was there to knock it away.
In the net for Auburn, redshirt freshman Sarah Le Beau finished with four saves, but suffered her fourth loss of the year.
Before Sunday's game, seniors Sophie Simantel, Logan Beal and Kala Faulkner were honored for their services to the Auburn Soccer team over the last four years. Since 2012, the senior class has helped Auburn compile a 47-31-9 record that includes an SEC Tournament final appearance in 2012 and two trips to the NCAA Tournament's Second Round.
Auburn completes its regular-season schedule next Thursday at Mississippi State with a 7 p.m. kick off. After that match, the Tigers will know their seeding in the SEC Tournament. Thursday's match will be televised on SEC Network+.
For more information on Auburn soccer, visit AuburnTigers.com, follow the team on Twitter, @AuburnSoccer or follow them on Facebook at Facebook.com/AuburnSoccer.