Following their first SEC win Friday night Oct. 25, the Auburn soccer team completed the weekend still alive with a chance to clinch the last spot of the SEC Tournament, after a 2-1 victory Oct. 27 over Vanderbilt.
Although the first half was scoreless, Auburn's offense had seven shots and their defense held Vanderbilt to only three shots.
Three minutes into the second half Auburn struck first when Casie Ramsier found the back of the net when she had a header goal off of Haley Gerken's corner kick. This was Ramsier's fourth consecutive game with a goal and her team-leading ninth goal of the season.
"I'm just trying to get onto the end of them and get them into the back of the net and help the team win," Ramsier said.
All game the defense never let the Vanderbilt offense get behind them and Vanderbilt's only goal was a low shot by Gena Inbusch off of a corner kick with 17:30 remaining in the game.
"Our defense was terrific. The one goal was on a corner that wasn't in the run of play. We never let them get behind us, we never let them get a clean look.," Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. "We only gave up seven shots total and only one was on frame, so you can't ask any more of that from the back line."
Auburn bounced back a few minutes later with a breakaway goal by Tori Ball when she beat Vanderbilt's goalie just outside of the box and shot into the open net.
The rest of the game the defense continued to not allow Vanderbilt's offense get any shots on goal.
"They were phenomenal back there. All four of them were just shutting them down and making sure that they didn't let them get shots off," Ramsier said.
Auburn's three senior starters: Maddie Barnes, Bianca Sierra and Kim Spence were honored before their last home game.
"We knew it was senior day so there was going to be a lot of emotions. We just really wanted to play for our seniors and win for them," Ramsier said.
With two wins in a row and three previous ties in a row, all against SEC opponents, Auburn has had a late season turnaround and now has a shot to make the SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Ala.
"Our girls have done a great job of staying the course and getting better every game and keeping their heads in it. The leadership has been terrific. Now we've got ourselves in a chance to still go to Orange Beach," Hoppa said.
"I think we've just realized that we have to start getting them into the back of the net. We've had chances. We know that we wanted to make the season last for the seniors and make it the best one yet," Ramsier said.
Auburn has one regular season game left when they travel to Tuscaloosa on Oct. 31 to face Alabama, in hopes of winning and keeping their season alive.
"Tuscaloosa obviously is a really tough place to play for any Auburn team. We're going to have to finish opportunities," Hoppa said. "There's always a lot on the line when we play each other at the end of the year and it's always a wild one."
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