Aug. 27, 2017
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AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Kristen Dodson scored two goals to guide the No. 20 Auburn soccer team to a 2-0 victory against North Dakota Sunday night. Dodson secured her fourth career multi-goal match in the 90-minute affair.
"That performance is what we need from Kristen," said head coach Karen Hoppa. "She's our senior all-star up top and she took the game into her own hands when she got two goals in the first eight minutes of the second half to put the game away.
"It was really a terrific performance by her and two great goals."
Dodson guided a relentless attack that mounted 30 shots in the match, including 14 on frame. Bri Folds had a team-high six shots, while 13 others tallied at least one attempt.
Alyssa Malonson tied a career-best with two assists in the match, setting up both of Dodson's net-rattlers to elevate Coach Hoppa and the Tigers (2-1-1) to the victory.
"Overall, I'm happy with the way we played. We came out and we were aggressive. However, we have got to be better in the final third. We created too many chances to go into halftime 0-0, so that is going to be the focus on us going forward."
The starting back line of Hannah Alspach, Caroline Bado, Sarah Houchin and Taylor Troutman put in a solid shift, limiting North Dakota (2-2-0) to just one shot all night, which came at the 57-minute mark in the second half.
Auburn was on the front foot right from the opening whistle and racked up 14 shots in the first 45 minutes, but was unable to net a goal.
Courtney Schell and Folds had headers pushed away by the opposing goalkeeper in the fourth minute of action. The best chance of the half came off the boot of Folds in the 27th minute when she laced a rocket to the far post from the left side of the box and forced a diving save.
The teams went into the locker room knotted up at 0-0.
It took just two minutes into the second period for the Tigers to finally crack the Fighting Hawks' defensive barrier.
Malonson beat her mark down the left flank and dribbled all the way to the touch line before floating a cross into Dodson, who hammered home her first goal of the season from just outside the six-yard box.
Eight minutes later, the attacking connection paired up for a second goal to double Auburn's lead to 2-0.
Following a cross by Ellie Leek that was headed away, Malonson did a one-touch flick to Dodson at the top of the box. The Aurora, Ill. native did the rest when she rifled a rocket into the upper-left corner of the goal for her fourth-career brace.
The Tigers saw the rest of the match out and held North Dakota without a shot for the final 37 minutes of the match en route to their second win at home in 2017.
The win marked the 150th all-time at the Auburn Soccer Complex, which stands as the third-most victories at a single facility in the nation.
Auburn returns to the pitch next weekend when it travels to Durham, N.C. for the Duke Nike Classic. The Tigers are slated to face No. 4 North Carolina Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. CT before closing the tournament against host No. 12 Duke Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT. Both matches will be streamed on ACC Network Extra and the WatchESPN app.