No. 9 Auburn (9-0-0) completed its nonconference schedule with an unblimished record by rolling over Alabama State (0-6-0), putting up a monster game with a final score of 7-0 Sunday night at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
The team's seven goals were the most in a match since 2008. It also marks the second time in program history the Tigers have finished nonconference play with a perfect mark.
"It was a great result," Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. "It was really important that we got the third and fourth goals before halftime because that took some pressure off. We might have relaxed a little bit after the early goal, and that's a good lesson to take from this game. We did a really good job executing in the second half."
The Tigers scored an early goal and didn’t take their foot off the gas as for the rest of the game. Bri Folds opened the scoring spree less than two minutes into the match and the team outshot Alabama State 49-1. Jessie Gerow, Taylor Troutman, Cami Rogers, Dani Solaru and Rocio Sandersalso scored goals in the match.
It was Troutman’s and Solaru’s first goals, making them the 11th and 12th players to score this season. Troutman's hat trick also matched her career high. Auburn wasted no time in showing up on the scoreboard with Folds and Aycock executing a great combination play early in the game.
Gerow doubled the score with her fourth goal of this season in the 33rd minute as she sent the ball sailing past the Alabama State goalkeeper on the near side with a hard shot from her right foot. About 10 minutes later, Troutman and Rogers scored less than a minute and a half apart to increase the advantage to four goals going into halftime.
Auburn was relentless with its attack coming out of intermission. An own goal by ASU extended the lead to 5-0 before Solaru scored the second goal of her career in the 66th minute. Sanders then capped things off with a penalty kick after Abby Meadows coaxed out a foul in the box.
"We're ready to go and be aggressive," Gerow said. "We're ready for SEC play. I thought everybody gave 100 percent effort this non-conference."
Twenty players saw action and logged more than 15 minutes in the match. Sarah Le Beau, Morgan Ramby and Sophie Milich split the goalkeeping responsibilities and led the team to their sixth shutout win of the season.
The Tigers take on LSU (6-3-0, 0-1-0 SEC) Thursday at 7 p.m. CT in Baton Rouge.
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