Soccer is back on the Plains, and the Auburn soccer team opened up home play Thursday night against Syracuse.
Led by senior Bri Folds and sophomore Hailey Whitaker, the Tigers scored two goals in the second half to shut out the Orange, 2-0.
After aphysical first half in which both defenses played excellent, the score heading into halftime was tied at zero. Auburn had nine shots in the first half but could not come up with a goal. The Tigers’ best scoring chance in the first half came off of a corner kick by Riley Petcosky, but stalled when Syracuse’s Lysianne Proulx made multiple saves near the goal.
The Tigers came out as a new team in the second half, showing a burst of energy and wearing down Syracuse. The Tigers had 17 shots in the second half compared to the 4 shots that Syracuse had.
“I thought our team connected passes better in the second half,” Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. “That’s what we talked about at halftime, we need to not over complicate the game and just connect our passes”.
This led to the first goal, when midfielder Folds connected with Whitaker, who kicked the ball through the left side of the goal for the score. This put the Tigers up 1-0, electrifying a crowd that erupted in cheer via plastic horns, buckets and drumsticks.
“It was greater than I thought it was going to be, it was so cool to play in front of a big crowd and get the win,” freshman Caroline Peterson said when asked about the atmosphere in her first home game at Auburn.
The Tigers added another goal when Folds sent a bullet from 30 yards out into the back of the net.
Looking ahead Auburn (2-2) will face Troy (3-0-2) on Sunday afternoon at the Auburn University Soccer Complex.
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