AUBURN, Ala. – After being locked in a scoreless draw at halftime, Auburn scored a trio of second-half goals and defeated Kennesaw State, 3-1, in its final exhibition match of the preseason Saturday night at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
"I felt like we left a lot on the table in the first half, but I liked the improvement in that department in the second half," said head coach Karen Hoppa. "We finished our chances and had a lot of players step up and play well. It was a good final exhibition game before we play for real."
Auburn dominated the possession and fired off 12 shots in the opening 45 minutes and came up empty, but Silvana Poulter got the Tigers on the scoreboard with her first career goal in the 63rd minute.
After Kennesaw State evened the match in the 71st minute, it took the Tigers less than four minutes to answer back. Angeline Daly lined up a free kick from 35 yards out and hit a rocket over the defensive line and into the back of the net.
Abby Meadows put the finishing touches on the match in the 89th minute as she corralled a free kick into the box, avoided a defender and beat the goalkeeper to make it a 3-1 game.
All three Auburn goalkeepers – Sarah Le Beau, Sophie Milich and Morgan Ramby – got into the game and the defensive unit held the Owls to just six shots. All-in-all, 22 players saw action.
Auburn concludes preseason practice this week before traveling to Samford for the regular season opener on Thursday, Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. CT.