Auburn exited the SEC Tournament in its opening round on Sunday as the No. 24 Tigers fell 2-1 to LSU. Despite a late push and a record-setting assist number by senior Anna Haddock, Auburn could not overcome the Bayou Bengals at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex in Pensacola, Fla.
LSU opened scoring in the 57th minute with a goal from Gabi Ceballos. Auburn’s struggles continued when LSU’s Mollie Baker extended the lead in the 71st minute after an Auburn turnover, putting the Tigers down by two.
Auburn found a spark in the 78th minute as senior Mallory Mooney fired a goal from deep, reducing the deficit to one and giving Auburn hope for a comeback. The assist from Haddock broke Auburn’s all-time assist record previously held by Katy Frierson (2008-11) and gave Haddock her 43rd career assist.
“We’re going to feel this hurt for a while, but the good thing is that we know we’ve got more soccer to play,” said Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa. “We came out too passive. Credit to LSU, they played great, but we didn’t have our best. We’re going to learn a lot from this game. We’ll rest and recover and be excited to make our play at the NCAA Tournament.”
Auburn now looks ahead to the NCAA Tournament, with its postseason path to be revealed during the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, Nov. 11, at 3 p.m. CST. The Tigers currently sit at 12-3-4 as they await postseason seeding.
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Grace Heim is a senior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in Political Science. She started with The Plainsman in January of 2023.
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