The 19th-ranked Auburn soccer team's postseason run ended Sunday after falling to the defending national champion Florida State Seminoles, 2-0, in Tallahassee, Florida.
The Tigers had a team goal of reaching Sweet 16 after falling in round two of the NCAA Tournament to Texas Tech last season. Auburn defeated the Red Raiders Friday in a dramatic overtime rematch to advance to Sweet 16.
"I was proud of them," Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. "I was every bit of proud of them today as I was Friday when they won."
The Seminoles were able to capitalize twice against the Tigers, the first goal coming off a rebound in the 25th minute, and the second coming just three minutes later.
"I thought our team had a good game plan today," Hoppa said. "I thought we executed really well, but we just didn't take our chances. I knew we weren't going to get a lot against a quality possession team like Florida State. We had some opportunities, we just didn't put them away when we could."
The loss marks the end of Auburn's historical season at 16-6-1 overall. The 16 wins are a new program record for wins in a season, and their Sweet 16 appearance was the first in program history.
Florida State managed 22 shots in the match, 10 on goal, but eight were saved by redshirt freshman Sarah Le Beau, who had one of her best performances of the season. The eight saves tie her career-high for the third time this year.
“I’m very proud of the team,” senior Kala Faulkner said. “Just coming from freshman year and seeing the emotions of the seniors at that time like Amy Howard and Mary Coffed, and just kind of learning from that and seeing the progress that we have made. Each team, each year, knowing that you want to make history. This year, with the adversity that we’ve been put through and things that we accomplished, upsetting teams like Florida and Texas A&M, making it to the Sweet 16 and making history, it has just been an unbelievable season.”
Le Beau finished the season with 81 saves and nine shutouts. On offense, 11 different Tigers scored at least one goal. Casie Ramsier led the team in goals with 12, tied for second-most in a season by an Auburn player. Brooke Ramsier, who recorded her 11th assist of the season Friday, finished tops on the team in that category with 17 points, both new career-highs for a season.
"Once we get past the emotion of the loss, they’re going to look back on this season with a lot of fun memories," Hoppa said. "It was a special year. They made history and they set some records. They need to hold their heads up high, because they are a fantastic team. Maybe the best to ever play at Auburn.”
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