AUBURN, Ala. — The Auburn soccer team dropped its Southeastern Conference opener to No. 11 Alabama, 1-0, Friday in front of a crowd of 2,319, the second largest crowd in Auburn Soccer Complex.
“I'd like to say thank you to the crowd tonight,” Auburn head coach James Armstrong said. “We asked the Auburn Family to come out, and my goodness, that that's the best crowd I've seen here in the seven years that I've had the pleasure of being here.”
Auburn generated several quality chances but trailed Alabama, 1-0, at halftime in the SEC opener for both teams. The Tigers held a 7-3 advantage in shots and put three attempts on frame, but Alabama goalkeeper Madi Munguia made three saves to keep Auburn off the scoreboard.
Auburn's best opportunities came from Dylan Driver, who recorded two shots in the opening 20 minutes, and Kennedy Husbands and Tahirah Turnage-Morales, who each tested the Crimson Tide defense with shots on goal.
Alabama broke through in the 33rd minute when Kennedy Garcia scored off an Ashley Roni deflected shot on goal, giving the Crimson Tide the lead.
“I think it was a game of two halves,” Armstrong said. “I thought we were really good in the first half, and then for whatever reason, we didn't change anything tactically. Second half, we just started slow. As a coach all you can ask for is best effort, best attitude. I think you know we had a lot of players that did that tonight.”
Alabama grabbed the momentum to start the second half, outshooting the Tigers 9-1 over the first 35 minutes. In a physical second half, that saw a combined 21 fouls, it was Auburn that regained momentum late, getting four shots off including two on goal over the last 10 minutes but was unable to find the equalizer.
Auburn returns to action on Friday, Sept. 18 when the Tigers host Ole Miss at 6:30 p.m. CT.