Auburn soccer (8-0-0) continued its winning ways in dominating fashion as the ninth-ranked Tigers cruised by the once undefeated Mississippi State Bulldogs (7-1-0), 3-0. This is Auburn’s 8th straight victory, which is the Tiger’s best start in school history.
“This is a big time win. Two undefeated teams, two great SEC team," Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa. "That was a battle. We had some great offense… We will be pretty happy to wake up tomorrow in first place (in the SEC)."
Auburn started the day off hot on offense,with an early chip-shot miss by team goal leader Bri Folds. After two missed opportunities in the offensive zone (an offsides penalty and a far side miss), Auburn put up the first points of the game behind a shot by Folds for her 6th goal of the year.
The story of the game, on offense, is the Tiger who assisted on the aforementioned goal, however: Treva Aycock. Treva Aycock played lights out for 78 minutes of the match. On the night, she tallied up two goals, one assist and six total shots -- leading her team in all of those categories.
Nine minutes after the Folds goal, off an incredible diving save by keeper Le Beau, the Tigers came storming down the field in a 3-on-1 situation. Aycock was able to put one past the MSU keeper for her first goal of the night and fourth of the season.
At half, Auburn had only taken four total shots on goal, with two of them being netted for a score.
On the other side of the ball, Auburn keeper Sarah Le Beau absolutely smothered the Bulldogs offense. Le Beau put up a shutout, which is her fifth of the young season.
The Bulldogs offense was firing all night, accumulating an enormous 20 shots on goal compared to Auburn’s 14. Le Beau was able to dive all over the goalie box and tallied four saves, though it felt like 40. Miss State also racked up four corners on the night, all safely stolen out of the air by Le Beau.
Eighteen minutes in, a State forward was able to control a ricochet ball off an Auburn defender. Le Beau made the full extension and stopped the potential game-tying score.
Late in the second half, a barrage of Bulldog shots were stymied by the Auburn goalie. After two back-to-back blocks, a rebound off the second save ended up getting past the keeper, but was called back due to an offsides.
“This was a complete team effort defending," Le Beau said. "We have been paying attention to details, our team has been able to defend individually and stop scoring chances and put games away."
Auburn looks to keep its undefeated season alive when it takes on Alabama State, at home, Sunday, Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. CST.
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