AUBURN, Ala. — Thanks to a trio of goals from a trio of seniors, No. 15 Auburn soccer (3-0-0) wrapped up its Senior Weekend celebration with a 3-0 shutout of Coastal Carolina (0-2-1) Sunday afternoon at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
“Great result for our girls today,” Tigers head coach Karen Hoppa said. “Credit to our defense and goalkeeping because they’ve been really good to start the season. We’re doing a lot of things well so far, but we know there’s still stuff we need to work on in practice.”
Auburn was boosted to victory thanks to goals that were credited to Anna Haddock, Carly Thatcher and Sammie Brown. Haddock also picked up a pair of assists.
Offensively, the Tigers outshot the Chanticleers 26-1 and placed 11 of their shots on target. Coastal Carolina did not locate its lone chance on frame. Auburn also forced a whopping 19 attacking corner kicks.
In goal, senior Maddie Prohaska went the distance to collect her 27th career clean sheet. With the shutout, Auburn has now outscored its opponents 13-0 through the opening three matches of the season.
To kickstart the scoring, Auburn struck early, netting its third goal in the first 10 minutes of a match already this season. In minute nine, Haddock stood over a free kick outside the left edge of the 18 and went for goal herself, placing a shot on frame that the keeper could not handle. It bounced around and rolled into the back of the net to give the Tigers the early edge.
“It’s been a long time coming for this group,” Haddock said. “We’ve been here for forever, so we’re all very close, all 13 of us. It was great to celebrate Senior Weekend by going 2-0 and getting a lot of goals from our senior class as well.”
Less than 10 minutes later, Thatcher wowed with a goal of her own as she was found by Haddock, making a run up the left edge of the box. Thatcher received the ball and pushed right to open a window which allowed her to release a right-footed strike that immaculately curled inside the far upper 90.
The goal was the seventh of Thatcher’s career and first since she scored the game-tying goal last season at West Virginia. On the play, Haddock locked down her third consecutive match with an assist.
Auburn took the 2-0 lead into the half and continued to deny the Chanticleers offense a chance to strike throughout the final 45. The Tigers added one more with 10 minutes left on the clock thanks to a beautiful header from Brown on a short corner that was taken by sophomore Olivia Woodson and Haddock.
“I knew Anna was going to play a good ball into the box, and I wanted to get a piece of it,” Brown said. “If we keep playing like this, starting fast and finishing strong, we’re going to put ourselves in a great position this season.”
On the service, Haddock picked up assist No. 35 of her career, officially passing Maggie Cauley (1994-97) for second all-time in program history.
Up next, the Tigers trek to South Alabama for their first road test of the season. Kickoff from The Cage in Mobile, Alabama is set for 7 p.m. CT on Thursday, Aug. 29.