AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn fell to Samford 2-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
The two teams took a scoreless tie into halftime, but Samford (16-3-2) scored a pair of goals in the middle of the second half to hand Auburn (12-7-1) just its third home loss of the season.
"We're certainly disappointed with the loss. It's not the way we wanted to send out our seniors," head coach Karen Hoppa said. "We're obviously very young, and I think there's a lot our team can learn from this. We're looking forward to next year already."
Winners of the Southern Conference regular season and tournament championships, Samford advances to the second round in Durham, North Carolina to take on the winner of tomorrow's contest between Brown and St. John's.
"Like coach said, we're a very young team so we've continued to grow," said Hannah Waesch. "Just building on some of our strengths and continuing to work on our weaknesses. Growth has been a big theme of this season."
Auburn was the aggressor in the first half, outshooting the Bulldogs 7-1 and tallying six corner kicks to Samford's zero in the opening stanza. The Tigers had a chance to take the lead into half as Olivia Candelino found space inside the box but her shot skipped wide of frame.
Coming out of halftime, the Bulldogs were the first to get on the scoreboard on Mary Raymond's goal in the 61st minute. Sixteen minutes later, Taylor Yount doubled Samford's lead before the visitors bled out the final 14 minutes of the contest.
Auburn nearly cut the deficit to one on a pair of looks in the final stages, but Samford goalkeeper Morgan McAslan made the saves to preserve the two-goal advantage.
Auburn finished with 15 shots but could never find the back of the net. Anna Haddock led the way with seven shots, two of which were on goal. Samford finished with six shots but was able to capitalize on one-third of its chances.
Sixteen Tigers saw action in the contest, including 12 who appeared in a NCAA Tournament game for the first time.