After losing 1-0 at the SEC open against the Missouri Tigers, the Auburn Tigers (4-1-4) were hungry for a win. However, the Tigers could not pull out a win against the No. 20 Razorbacks (5-2-1), leaving Arkansas with another 1-0 loss under their belt.
“We battled hard tonight against a very tough team,” said head coach Karen Hoppa. “I thought we were better than last week, so we will look to build on tonight for Sunday.”
Auburn’s offense had difficulty generating any crucial plays against Arkansas. The Razorbacks outshot the Tigers 6-21 and 4-6 for shots-on-goal.
Junior midfielder Anna Haddock and redshirt junior forward Marissa Arias led the team with two shot attempts. Sophomore midfielder Sydnie Thibodaux achieved the first start of her Auburn career by ripping shots on Arkansas’ net early in the first half. Freshman defenseman Hayden Colson, Thibodaux, Haddock, and Arias each averaged one shot on goal.
Thibodaux earned the start because the Tigers were shifting to a 4-3-3 formation for the first time all season in hopes of neutralizing a historically-strong Arkansas offense.
The difference maker of the night was once again junior goalkeeper Maddie Prohaska.
She held the back line for Auburn’s defense, making five saves out of the six shots faced. Senior midfielder Jessica De Filippo was ultimately got the ball past Prohaska to give the Razorbacks a 1-0 lead.
Prohaska managed to keep the ball out of the back of the net until 15 minutes into the second half. Prohaska engraved her name into Auburn’s record book as the second player to accomplish a 0.91 career goals against average and the sixth player in program history to achieve 164 career saves.
Searching for a win after three games on the road, the Tigers face No. 13 Ole Miss on home field at 3 p.m. CST this Sunday.
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Caitlyn Griffin is a sophomore from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. She started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
Twitter: @caitlyngrif99
