Auburn’s Kara Kasten (left): kicks the ball past Kansas’ Kim Boyer Sunday in Lawrence, Kan. Kasten, a senior from Marrieta, Ga., had three shots on goal. Jeff Jacobsen / KANSAS ATHLETICS
Coming off last week’s two-win opening weekend, the Auburn women’s soccer team fell to No. 22 Missouri on Friday, Aug. 29, and No. 25 Kansas on Sunday, Aug. 31.
Missouri was able to sneak in with a final score of 1-0, while Kansas had to fight a little more for its win of 2-1, after an Auburn goal was negated because of an offsides call.
The Tigers ‘two losses brought their record to 2-2-0 (W-L-T).
“Playing two great Top-25 teams that played two very different styles and playing on the road were two very big challenges for us,” said head coach Karen Hoppa. “Hopefully those challenges will make us better as we get into SEC play.”
Auburn allowed the first goal of the season scored Friday, off a corner kick in middle of the second half.
The Auburn defense proved to be strong, only allowing this one goal from Missouri’s 23 shots.
Auburn senior goalkeeper Allison Whitworth had seven saves against Missouri’s 23 shots.
By Sunday, the Tigers’ defense stepped up and only allowed Kansas to get eight shots off, and Whitworth had one save.
“Friday night we struggled because we didn’t play our game until the second half, we didn’t play our possession game,” said junior forward Becca Howell. “We did that a lot better in Sunday’s game, much better than we did Friday night. We clicked better, and we had more opportunities.”
Speaking of opportunities, Howell scored the only goal for the Tigers against Kansas at 50:23.
She shot from just outside the 18 and the ball soared over the goalkeeper’s hands as it hit the top middle of the Kansas net.
“Once we start playing fast, it just flows for us,” Howell said. “The communication on the field is always a lot easier when we play quickly and we’re in our zone. When we move the ball fast we play a lot better.”
It was junior forward Caitlin King’s goal that would have given Auburn the 2-1 lead against Kansas at 84:03, but it was negated because of an offsides call.
“Caitlin tore apart Kansas’ defense and was absolutely phenomenal, she really had a great game,” Hoppa said.
Just after Kings’ goal was taken back, a second yellow card was issued to junior midfielder Chelsea Yauch, causing Auburn to finish the game a man down.
At 85:12, Kansas took the 2-1 lead with its second goal.
Chelsea Yauch, a junior midfielder: taken down by a Kansas defender in Sunday’s game. The Tigers fell to the Jayhawks 2-1. She started 13 games last year for the Tigers, logging 1,022 minutes of game time. Jeff Jacobsen / KANSAS ATHLETICS
“We gave up a goal in the last five minutes of the Kansas game,” said Howell. “We definitely would have won in overtime, even with a man down, and we all feel really strongly that we would have won. So for us to give up a goal in the last five minutes of a game is a big issue for us.”
Other players who played well this weekend were senior captains Kara Kasten and Jenn Johnson.
“Kara played fantastic,” Hoppa said. “She was awesome both Friday and Sunday and she’s really playing well and we need that from her, we need her to lead us. And on the defensive side, Jenn had an outstanding weekend. We have a young back line, and Jenn is really doing a great job of leading and organizing that back line.”
Hoppa and the Tigers know what improvements they have to make to get ready for this weekend’s big match-up against No. 10 Stanford and No. 7 Virginia, in Athens, Ga.
“It doesn’t get any easier from here, that’s one reason why taking these two losses is so difficult,” Hoppa said. “We have Stanford and Virginia next weekend at Georgia, and we really have to do a good job of regrouping this week and getting ready for that bigger challenge next weekend.”
