AUBURN, Ala. – No. 12 Auburn soccer made a statement in its Southeastern Conference opener by defeating Georgia, 3-0, in front of a capacity crowd of 1,500 Friday night at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
"What an unbelievable performance tonight," head coach Karen Hoppa said. "I'm really proud of our effort in dealing with the adversity – two lightning delays and losing Madeline Moore minutes into the game with an injury. That's a tough blow. The way our team responded really shows the character of this group."
The Tigers (7-1-0, 1-0-0 SEC) snapped the Bulldogs' (7-2-0, 0-1-0 SEC) six-game winning streak and handed their neighboring rival its first shutout loss of the season.
"We had an unbelievable crowd tonight," Hoppa added. "Two of our best crowds in a long time in back-to-back games and our girls love it. They feed off the energy. We appreciate everybody showing up."
After the start of the game was delayed due to lightning, Anna Haddock didn't waste much time getting the scoring started as she found the back of the net less than 10 minutes into the contest. Less than five minutes into the second half, the sophomore midfielder doubled the lead with her second brace of the season.
"This was a really big win for us," Haddock said. "It's always great for us to start the season 1-0. We had to deal with some adversity, but I think we responded really well and came away with three points. What more can you ask for?"
Haddock has now scored seven goals through the team's first eight games, marking the most goals by an Auburn player through eight games since Tammy Waine scored 12 goals in 2000.
"Something has been in the air this year," Haddock added of the multi-goal efforts this season. "When one person scores, we know they're not going to stop, which is a good thing. It's going really well offensively."
Leading 2-0, Marissa Arias found the back of the net for the third time in as many contests as she beat her defender with a right-footed strike from the top of the box and hit it past the goalkeeper into the upper 90.
Mallory Mooney, Olivia Candelino and Carly Thatcher each got on the scoresheet with assists, marking their third, third and second assists of the season, respectively.
Meanwhile, Auburn's defensive unit held one of the most high-powered offenses in the country off the scoreboard, marking the team's third shutout in the last four games.
"Their offense was really good, and I thought we did a really good cohesive job talking together and just getting the shutout," M.E. Craven said.
Sophomore goalkeeper Maddie Prohaska made four saves and controlled her box on a number of crosses towards goal, while the D-Team held strong despite the loss of its starting center back.
"To shutout what is one of the best offenses in the country, I'm really proud of the effort of our back line and our goalkeeping was tremendous," Hoppa said.
Auburn outshot Georgia 17-15 in the contest and took six corners to the Bulldogs one. Seventeen players ultimately saw action in the league opener.
The Tigers return to action with a trip to No. 10 Tennessee (7-1-0) Thursday, Sept. 23 at 6 p.m. CT. It marks Auburn's first road game in nearly a month.
