AUBURN, Ala. – No. 11 Auburn set the program record with its 10th straight win in a 3-0 victory against Chattanooga Sunday afternoon at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
Anna Haddock scored her fourth goal of the season, including her third game winner, while Olivia Candelino took care of the two others, marking her first goals of the season and the first brace of her Auburn career.
"The effort of the team was tremendous," Hoppa said. "I'm really proud of them for keeping the pressure on, and what two brilliant goals by (Olivia) to make it 3-0 on the scoreboard. That really made a difference. I was really pleased they kept the energy up late in the game when it was so hot."
After taking a scoreless tie into halftime, Auburn came out firing in the second half, scoring the eventual game winner 32 seconds after the break and adding a pair of goals in the late stages to ice the game.
The Tigers' 10th straight wins dating back to last spring surpasses the 2018 team's nine straight wins to start season for the longest streak in program history.
"We decided that we were going to press them even if they weren't going to press us," Haddock said. "We wanted to up the tempo of the game. It started in those first minutes of the second half, and we just kept it up the rest of the half."
On the other side of the field, the Auburn defensive unit turned in the first shutout of the season and continued a streak of 13 straight contests dating back to last spring allowing one or fewer goals.
The Tigers (5-0-0) held the Mocs (2-4-0) shotless in the contest while firing off 24 shots on its side of the field. Auburn also held a 13-1 advantage in corner kicks, one of which resulted in the first goal of the game.
Haddock led the way with five shots in the contest, including two on frame, while Candelino fired off four shots and M.E. Craven pressed forward from her center back position to get a chance on three set pieces.
After Sydney Richards immediately won a corner off the opening kick, Haddock's goal to start the second half came courtesy of a smartly placed corner kick directly into the upper 90. The in-swinging effort left the keeper ball watching as it looped over and into the net.
"The first half was frustrating for us because they packed it in really well and stuck to that gameplan," Haddock said. "We went big right off the kickoff and I saw the opportunity to bend it in as best as I could. I put it in there for someone to get a head on it, and the ball did the work itself to go in off the corner kick."
Holding on to a 1-0 advantage into the final 10 minutes of the contest, Olivia Candelino found the back of the net on two occasions off similar in-swinging left-footers from the top of the box less than a minute apart.
"I'm really happy to get two goals, and really blessed to have such a great game alongside my teammates," Candelino said. "I thought we had a really great team performance."
The first came after Riley Petcosky played a far-post cross to Hailey Whitaker, who laid it off to Candelino. The sophomore forward then spun off a crashing keeper and finished with her left foot inside the far post. Forty-two seconds later, the Jacksonville, Florida, native ran down a pass over the top from Madeline Moore, eluded a defender to the left and finished with the same foot off the left post.
Nineteen players saw action in the contest, including all 11 starters seeing 50 or more minutes on a hot September day less than 72 hours after its previous opponent.
The Tigers cap off a five-match homestand with two games next week, starting with Alabama A&M Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CT at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
