In its first road match of the season on Thursday afternoon, Auburn beat Syracuse in a close contest at SU Soccer Stadium 2-1. Junior defender LJ Knox was the one to put the game away with her first goal of her career as a college soccer player in the 61st minute, thanks to an assist from senior Mallory Mooney off a corner kick that Knox headed in.
“It was an awesome, epic win,” Knox said. “Total team effort for all 90. We’re hungry for more and determined to finish this road trip strong.”
Head coach Karen Hoppa was pleased with her team's performance away from home.
“It was our first game against a Power Five team, and I thought we really battled well against a tough Syracuse squad” Hoppa said. “We had some good runs of play, created a lot of chances, and scored two good goals. Unfortunately, we gave up one late, which made it stressful down the stretch, but our team did a good job managing the game out, so we’re thrilled to walk out of here with a win.”
The Tigers outshot the Orange overall 16-2 as well as in shots on goal 10-2. On corner kicks, the Tigers created more than the Orange 11-5, the most corner kicks since they played Mississippi State in October 2022.
The Tigers put together another solid effort defensively, only allowing one goal. Auburn's match against Syracuse marked 20 of the last 21 games where its defense has held the opponent to one or less goals.
The Tigers got their offense going thanks to redshirt senior Marissa Arias in the 25th minute of the game. Fifth year Sydney Richards started the offensive attack by finding senior Anna Haddcock on the right side of the pitch. Haddcock missed her shot due to a deflection from the Orange keeper, where Arias picked it up and tapped it back in to get the Tigers on the board, two minutes after subbing in.
Knox’s had the prominent goal of the two as it came near the end of the game. In back-to-back matches, she has now contributed to the offensive side of the stat line. She collected her first career assist in the game against Troy last week before scoring on Thursday.
The one goal Auburn gave up was its first of the 2023 season midway through the second half. That goal was attributed to Syracuse’s Hanna Pilley, who snuck one into the back of the net in the 68th minute off a corner kick.
The one other chance that the Orange had to tie it came in the second minute when an on-target shot was saved by Auburn goalkeeper Maddie Prohaska. Prohaska now has 194 career saves to put her at a 0.89 career goals-against average.
Auburn looks to end its road trip on a win as it will take on Army West Point on Sunday, Aug. 27. Kickoff is set for noon on ESPN+.
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William Halliday started with The Plainsman in fall 2022. He is a journalism major from Memphis, Tennessee.
Twitter: @wphalliday3
