Tempers spiked but a last minute goal just before the half poised the Auburn soccer team to capitalize and defeat South Alabama 4-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
Casie Ramsier set the tone for the Tigers as they pushed on the attack, as she totaled six shots and her sister Brooke had four. Auburn notched 18 shots in the match and limited the Jaguars to just one.
“I’m really, really pleased with our team,” Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. “I thought we dominated possession and I thought we played a great game. South Alabama is a great team. They had a great season and were really dangerous. Our possession was tremendous and our defense was tremendous to limit them to one shot on goal. It was a great result and we’re excited to be fighting to play another day.”
Casie Ramsier and Haley Gerken opened the scoring affair, with Gerken netting her first goal of the season after recovering from an ACL injury last year.
"It was really exciting," Gerken said. "It's been a tremendous year. The girls have pushed me so hard and I think I owe it to my teammates, that they kept pushing me to get there."
The Tigers were up 2-0 when Brooke Ramsier found the net minutes after Gerken to extend Auburn's lead 3-0. She notched the Tigers final goal of the match in the 78th minute when she recorded her first career brace on a free kick.
Forward Ashlynn Jones had the only shot for the South Alabama in the second half but it was caught by Auburn's Sarah Le Beau.
The victory was Auburn's seventh shutout of the season and advances the Tigers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. Auburn (15-6-0) will face Connecticut (19-2-0) on Friday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. CST in Gainesville, Florida. The winner will move on to the Sweet 16 to face the victor of Florida and Wisconsin.
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