AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn soccer (0-1-0) outshot and at times, outplayed Louisville in its season opener, but was unable to find a magic moment in order to penetrate the goal line and ultimately fell to the Cardinals (1-0-0) 1-0 Thursday night at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
“Great learning experience for our girls,” head coach James Armstrong said. “I thought we had some moments in the game where we played really well, but we lacked the right mentality in the key moments. Louisville is a really good team, but we had moments to capitalize. They took their chance. We didn’t take ours.”
Auburn's attacking unit created 10 shots, five on target, to Louisville’s six and two. Auburn also forced seven corner kicks to the Cardinals’ five. Senior Erin Flurey led the Tigers with three shots. Senior Taylor Chism added two.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Louisville won a corner kick in the 73rd minute. The Cardinals delivered a back-post serve that was punched away by freshman goalkeeper Ayana Yapo, but the Tigers were unable to clear the chance that ultimately fell to the feet of Hadley Snyder, who used a left-footed shot to sneak the ball inside the low right post.
AUBURN NOTABLES
Eight of the Tigers’ first 11 made their first career start in an Auburn jersey. Yapo, senior Asha Means and freshman Lily Devereaux all earned their first collegiate starts.
Freshmen Gracie Brown, Ava Caldwell and Clara Casajuana made their college debuts off the bench. Casajuana led the trio with 29 minutes of action.
Chism and senior Hayden Colson went the distance and played the full 90 minutes. Devereaux only came off for three minutes, playing 87, while Flurey and junior Jordyn Crosby each went 75.
UP NEXT
The Tigers welcome Samford to the Auburn Soccer Complex for a 6 p.m. CT kick on Sunday, Aug. 17. Auburn will celebrate the future of the game as the match theme is Youth Soccer Night.