After a 25-day hiatus, Auburn soccer returned to the pitch to take on Ole Miss Tuesday. The Tigers left with a 1-0 win in the waning moments of the second overtime.
"We're just really proud of this team," head coach Karen Hoppa said. "We had been out for a while, but you couldn't tell from their performance. The overall performance was excellent. We had a lot of chances. I'm really proud of them to stick with it until the last seconds and come out with a really valuable three points at home."
Auburn entered the game with a 2-5-2 formation against Ole Miss’s 4-4-2. The focus on the midfield by Auburn led to them dominating possession throughout the game with 57% compared to the Rebels' 43%.
“I thought our midfield was outstanding,” Hoppa said. “Especially as young as we are, Anna Haddock and Hannah Waesch played a lot of minutes in that midfield, and that’s a young group.”
Despite the heavy possession by Auburn, Ole Miss was able to keep them from scoring for 109 minutes and 57 seconds. The game appeared to be heading toward a draw, but Auburn earned a corner with about 20 seconds on the clock.
By the time the Tigers actually sent the ball into the box, just three seconds were remaining before the ball deflected off the bodies in front of the net for the only goal of the game.
Maddie Prohaska, the 17-year old goalkeeper, locked down the Ole Miss attack and continued her successful start to the season despite the long gap between games. Prohaska earned her first clean sheet as a college goalkeeper by saving the shots on goal by Ole Miss.
Auburn improves to 1-0-1 on the season and, barring any issues, will travel to Athens, Georgia, to play Georgia on Sunday, Oct. 18, for its next game.
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