Oct. 9, 2016
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AUBURN, Ala. -- The 18th-ranked Auburn soccer program notched its fifth-consecutive win in dominating fashion by defeating Mississippi State, 3-0. The Tigers (10-4-0, 6-1-0 SEC) grabbed goals from Kristen Dodson, Ellie Leek and Brooke Ramsier on a picture-perfect Sunday at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
"I'm really pleased with our performance," said head coach Karen Hoppa. "We played great defense allowing zero shots in the first half, which really set a good tone for us. I'm happy we picked up the third goal, got a lot of players minutes today and it was a really good team effort."
Auburn kept the pressure on all afternoon as it held a 20-4 advantage in shots and forced the Bulldogs (6-8-0, 1-6-0) into making seven saves.
The Tigers almost went ahead 19 minutes into the match as they drew the goalie away from her goal, but the Mississippi State defense cleared two shots off the line to keep the match scoreless.
Just nine minutes later, Leek broke the deadlock after receiving a ball from the duo of Taylor Troutman and Courtney Schell and flicking it into the back of the net.
"The back post was empty, Courtney Schell was about to cross the ball in and Casie [Ramsier] jumped to make the keeper miss and I had the easiest goal I was ever going to score in my career," stated Leek.
In the 37th minute, Brooke Ramsier doubled Auburn's lead to 2-0 after scoring from a nearly impossible angle on a corner kick.
"We had been practicing [corners] all week, so when I hit it in my teammates had great pressure to distract the goalie so she wasn't able to see it went in," said Brooke Ramsier.
The Tigers maintained a 2-0 lead at the half and held the Bulldogs without a shot in the opening 45 minutes of play.
Sixteen minutes into the second half, Dodson recorded her sixth goal in the last four matches and put the contest out of reach at 3-0. Bri Folds and Schell combined to register assists as the cross into the box was headed home by Dodson for her team-leading ninth goal of 2016.
The score line remain unchanged in the final 30 minutes and sent the Tigers to their fifth-straight conference win.
In total, Auburn played a season-high 22 players with three players logging season-bests in minutes played. Alyse Scott, Ashton Brock and Kerry Dunn each recorded a season-high with 22, 17 and four minutes on the pitch, respectively. Scott even tallied a save in final moments.
The Tigers move to 92-1 when scoring three-plus goals in a match since Hoppa was appointed in 1999.
Auburn returns to the field next Friday when it welcomes No. 11 Arkansas in a battle of teams currently tied for second in the conference standings. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Auburn Soccer Complex.