No. 9 Auburn Battles LSU to Scoreless Draw on the Road

Box Score (PDF)
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Wade Rackley

BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 9 Auburn (9-0-1, 1-0-1 SEC) went into a hostile environment at LSU (6-3-1, 0-1-1 SEC) and battled the homestanding Tigers to a scoreless draw at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
 
The shutout was the team's seventh of the season, including goalkeeper Sarah Le Beau's fifth of the year and 26th of her career. As a unit, the Tigers haven't allowed a goal in more than 368 minutes dating back to its 3-1 win against Cincinnati on Sept. 9.
 
On the attack, Auburn outshot LSU 25-14 and put 11 shots on frame but couldn't convert in the finishing third.
 
"Getting a shutout on the road in this league is really hard to do, so that's a great positive," head coach Karen Hoppa said. "But honestly, we let one get away tonight. We certainly had the opportunities and I thought we lacked a bit of composure, got away from our game plan and are leaving here a little disappointed."
 
Despite the draw, Auburn stands as the only remaining team in the Southeastern Conference without a loss this season.
 
Sixteen Tigers saw action in the match, including five who played all 110 minutes.
 
LSU outshot Auburn, 8-5, in the first half, but the visiting Tigers came out as the aggressor after intermission and outshout the home team, 20-6 in the final 65 minutes of the match.
 
Four of LSU's second-half shots were on frame, but Le Beau got a glove on all of them, including a diving save near post in the 62nd minute to hold the Tigers scoreless.

Auburn's best chance at breaking the scoreless draw came in the 84th minute when the Tigers got off a pair of shots in front of the frame, but both were deflected by LSU goalkeeper Caroline Brockmeier.
 
The scoreless draw remained throughout Auburn's first overtime of the season, and the two teams left with a point apiece in conference play.
 
"We need to recover," Hoppa said. "That was a lot of minutes in this Baton Rouge heat, so that's going to be big. We just need to be sharper. We need to be better in our possession and more creative in the final third."
 
Auburn faced a quick turnaround before its next contest as the Tigers host Ole Miss (7-4-0, 1-1-0 SEC) Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Auburn Soccer Complex. Admission to all home matches is free.