Auburn Women's Soccer team (8-7-3, 5-5-0 SEC) earned its first win over a ranked team since 2007, beating No. 19 Georgia (13-4-1, 6-4-0 SEC) 2-0, Sunday.
The win earned the Tigers their ninth consecutive trip to the SEC Soccer Tournament.
In addition to the excitement of beating an SEC rival and a ranked team, the Tigers did so on Senior Day, with both goals being scored by senior forward Rebecca Howell.
"Our team played really, really well in the first half, and normally we're more of a second half team, so it was huge," Howell said. "The whole team just came out really strong. Honestly, I didn't recover from the excitement of Senior Day for the first 30 minutes I played, my heart was in my throat. I was running so much and the excitement was so huge for our team."
Howell was rewarded for her hard work over the weekend by earning SEC Player of the Week, Monday.
"Both of her goals were tremendous individual efforts," said head coach Karen Hoppa. "They were unassisted goals, which is actually rare for our team. We're a good possession team and combination play team and usually have an assist, or even two, on the goals."
After Howell's first goal in the 56th minute, Hoppa encouraged her to keep fighting and to stay hungry.
"(Coach) just laughed and gave me a hug and said 'thank you' and gave me a high-five," Howell said. "I think she tells me this after every goal, 'to keep being hungry for it, not to be satisfied and to keep working hard.' The coaches always tell us one is not enough."
Sure enough, 23 minutes later Howell scored her second goal of the game and her 21st career goal.
Hoppa praised the offense and defense for playing tough and working together well to get the win over the rival Bulldogs.
"It was a great day, a perfect way to send those seniors out," Hoppa said. "Obviously, we were thrilled with a lot of things. Thrilled with the win, thrilled to send the seniors out on a high-note and thrilled with the way we played. We deserved to win. We played really well. We had a ton of chances on goal and it was an overall great game. Our defense was great, obviously we got two great goals and had a lot of chances, but our defense was great too."
Sunday's win marked freshman goalkeeper Amy Howard's fourth shutout of the season.
"It feels great to get another shutout because our entire team has been working so hard defensively this year, it's great to see it pay off on the scoreboard," Howard said.
The SEC recognized Howard Monday for the third time this season, naming her SEC Freshman of the Week.
"I am so excited to receive this award again," Howard said. "I just can't believe I was chosen for a third time because I know how many awesome freshmen there are in the SEC."
Howard made seven saves Sunday, totaling 101 for her career.
Two more saves will move her to second on Auburn's all-time single-season saves list.
"I think it's the first time we've ever had anyone get three SEC Player of the Week's in a year, so that's fun," Hoppa said. "Amy's done a great job. She's been great all season, it's a lot of pressure to play in the goal as a true freshman. It'd be like having a true freshman as the quarterback on the football team. It's a high-pressure position because every mistake you make is very costly, and she's really done a great job of stepping up and playing well and playing like a veteran. To get a shutout over the No. 19 team in the country for her was fantastic."
Although an exciting day for the Tigers, Howell said it was particularly emotional for the seniors, especially for their injured senior teammates.
Howell said the team played for forward Stephanie Fransoso and defender Lizzie Hamersly who were unable to play due to previous injuries.
"I think that was a sentiment for the whole team," Hoppa said. "With Lizzie and Steph being out for so long, and they're both from Georgia so this game always has a little more meaning for those two. Not getting to play was really emotional for them. By winning that game we still have a chance of extending our season and then maybe a chance that those two will get to play again."
Before focusing on the SEC Soccer Tournament, the Tigers are taking this week to prepare to take on the Crimson Tide in the Iron Bowl of Soccer in Tuscaloosa Friday at 7 p.m.
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