On Saturday, Auburn traveled to South Carolina to take on No. 9 Clemson, but ultimately lost when Clemson scored a late-game goal that Auburn could not match in the waning minutes of the game.
Neither Tigers scored for more than 83 minutes until Clemson’s lead scorer, Megan Bornkamp, found the back of the net in the 84th minute of the game. With time counting down, Auburn struggled to level the 1-0 lead with 4 last-chance shots that never reached the back of the goal.
This is Auburn's first loss since the spring restart and ends a streak of 351 minutes without an opponent goal. Before the 84th minute in Saturday’s matchup, the last time a goal was scored against the Tigers was in November of 2020 when they faced No. 6 Arkansas in the last matchup of their fall schedule.
“I was really proud of our team today,” Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. “We executed our game plan. I thought we did a great job disrupting Clemson, and we created a ton of chances. We just couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Auburn had plenty of opportunities offensively with nine shots and four corner kicks throughout the game, but ultimately, they couldn’t take advantage with the score remaining 1-0. Freshman Anna Haddock had a team-high four shots and almost got the Tigers on the scoreboard in the late stages of the match, but the shot hit the crossbar and bounced away from the goal.
Defensively, the Tigers held Clemson scoreless for most of the game with freshman goalkeeper Maddie Prohaska in the back of the net to fend off the Tigers. Saving four shots in the first half and a pair of saves in the opening minutes right out of halftime, the game remained scoreless for much of the contest.
“For 83 minutes, we went toe-to-toe with a top-10 team. We need to learn from this game and apply to the next one,” Hoppa said.
The Tigers fall to 5-5-3 on the season with their next matchup against Georgia at home on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. CST in the Auburn Soccer Complex.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
Larry is a senior studying journalism with a minor in sociology. He is from Enterprise, Alabama and is in his third year with The Auburn Plainsman.
Twitter: @ReportingLarry
