Nov. 14, 2015
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AUBURN, Ala. -Sophomore Kristen Dodson provided the lone goal for the Auburn soccer team Saturday night, joined with a strong defensive showing as the Tigers defeated Southeastern Louisiana, 1-0, in the NCAA Tournament First Round action at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
"I thought we played great soccer," Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. "We're really happy and excited to advance. We need to do a better job at finishing and have a higher percentage. We did enough to win the game and at this time of year, that's the key; survive and advance. We're excited to have the opportunity to play again and play against Texas Tech again."
With the win, Auburn advances to play Texas Tech in the second round of the tournament next Friday in Tallahassee, Fla., the home of the number one overall seed Florida State Seminoles. Kick-off for the Texas Tech-Auburn match is still to be determined. Auburn fell to Texas Tech, 2-1, in last year's second round in Gainesville, Fla.
The win is Auburn's eighth all time in the NCAA Tournament and places it in the NCAA Second Round for the eighth time in program history. A win over Texas Tech next week would place Auburn in its first ever Sweet 16.
"We've been to Tallahassee a lot, so we're happy to be there and be the neutral game," Hoppa said. "It's really unusual to play the same team like Texas Tech, who is outside of our region, in the second round for the second year in a row. We're excited to have a second chance at that game."
A standing room only crowd of 1,729 watched the Tigers put up 29 shots on offense, which usually would have spelled more goals for the Orange and Blue. However, the play of Southeastern Louisiana's goalkeeper, Hope Sabadash, was quite outstanding as she turned away 11 of Auburn's shots.
"We had seen some film on her, so we knew she was really good," Hoppa said. "Boy, I didn't know she was going to be that good. She was unbelievable. What a great performance. I can't remember the last time I saw a performance by a goalkeeper that was 'that' good. For us, luckily, we found enough to win the game. Kristen found the net that one time and our defense kept them off the board. We were happy with the result for sure.
Even with the large shot output, Auburn was still able to break through in the 41st minute when Dodson delivered home a rebound after a cross from Casie Ramsier deflected off Sabadash just 10 yards from the goal line. For Dodson, it was her fifth goal of the year.
The goal came after a couple of tough offsides were called on the Tigers as Auburn tried to get counter attack jump on the Lions throughout the first half.
We were just pressing as hard as we could," Dodson said. "After those offsides were called, we were a little more angry and we just wanted to keep going at them. We were finally able to get one and put it away. We just kept continuing to press. Coach (Hoppa) always tells us to frame the goal, just in case she spilled. It just happened that she spilled that one time."
Out of the 29 shots by Auburn, seven each came off the foot of juniors Casie and Brooke Ramsier. Each time Auburn seemed to have a good counter-attack going, the Ramsier twins were each attacking hard out of the midfield, with multiple headers just missing the net.
As strong as the offense looked for the Tigers, the defense had just as good of a night, holding the Lions to just five total shots, one coming on target. The opponent shot total is the second-lowest given up by Auburn this season and the lowest since giving up four against Old Dominion back in early September.
"Our offense did a great job at creating opportunities," senior Kala Faulkner said. "Seeing what they were able to do, we knew as a defense that we needed to stay compact and limit their shots. I think we did that today."
The 1,729 fans that braved the chilly conditions at the Auburn Soccer Complex Saturday night set a new Auburn home record for largest crowd at an NCAA Tournament match. The last leading number was 1,472 against Clemson back in 2004.
For more information on Auburn soccer, visit AuburnTigers.com, follow the team on Twitter, @AuburnSoccer or follow them on Facebook at Facebook.com/AuburnSoccer.