AUBURN, Alabama —Holding Ole Miss to no shots on goal and just three chances total, the Auburn soccer team rolled to its first SEC win of the season with a 3-0 victory over Ole Miss on Friday night at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
“It’s a big three points with a clean sheet,” head coach James Armstrong said. “Overall, we're really happy. We talked to the girls about having to earn the victory, and I think we did that tonight with our effort. Once again, we were slow in the second half. We've got to figure that out collectively. It was a very physical game. We're happy with the three points, three goals, a clean sheet, and we’ll move on to the next one.”
The Tigers (5-1-3, 1-0-1 SEC) got on the board first with Gracie Brown finding the back of the net for the second time this season off a corner.
On the attacking end, the Tigers entered the night as one of just eight teams to generate 70 or more corner kicks this season, joined by just Vanderbilt in the SEC, and created a pair of goals off eight corners on Friday evening.
Senior Grace Ivey struck for the second straight time against the Rebels just six minutes later, finishing off a ball played in by Layla Sirdah.
Midfielder Kennedy Husbands capped the scoring for Auburn in the 56th minute, creating chaos in the box off a corner to knock the ball in.
For the seventh time in nine matches, the Tigers’ defense shut out its opponent, allowing three corner kicks and no shots on goal. Auburn’s back line has been stout, leading the SEC and tying for third in the country with just two goals allowed.
For Ole Miss, it marked its lowest shot output since being held to just one chance against Tennessee a season ago, as Auburn’s junior goalkeeper Ayana Yapo recorded her 10th career shutout.
The Tigers are unbeaten against the Rebels in the last four meetings, including three shutouts, keeping Ole Miss off the board in each of the last two matches at home.
Auburn will look to continue its winning ways on the road next week, beginning with a match at Missouri on Thursday night at 6 p.m. CT.
For more information on the Auburn soccer team, be sure to visit @auburnsoccer on X, Instagram and Facebook.