AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn Tigers fall short to the defending SEC Tournament champs, the South Carolina Gamecocks, 2-1 in the last 10 minutes of the game.
The Gamecocks scored both their tying and winning goal in the 84th and 86th minute, only three minutes after the Tigers scored what they thought would be their winning goal.
"What a heartbreaker," Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. "We played great, got up on them, and just couldn't keep those two goals out of the net. I'm really proud of our group though.
The game remanded scoreless as it approached the 80th minute, until Auburn struck first, making it 1-0.
Fans celebrated in the all-orange, packed crowd of 1307 people, and everyone, including Gamecock fans, thought that was the winning goal.
Freshman midfielder Maquena O’Callaghan strings a pass to Junior midfielder Sydnie Thibodaux in the box or her first goal of the season and for Auburn's solo score this game.
Thibodaux’s goal also made Auburn the fifth team to score against South Carolina this season.
Auburn out shot South Carolina 12-8 but tied with them with shots on goal; both teams had five.
Senior Anna Haddock had five of the 12 shots, creating a season high for her for the second game in a row.
Sydney Richards, who had a brace and a game-winning goal earlier this week against Missouri, had three shots and one on goal.
The defense was the star of the game; both teams battled for possession the entire game and were always in the attacking-third of the field.
Moreover, it was a physical SEC game with 13 fouls total, Auburn having six and South Carolina having seven and a yellow card caused by a high kick.
Goalkeeper Maddie Prohaska had three saves for the Tigers and kept them alive against the 15 ranked team in the nation and second team in the SEC East.
I'm really proud of our group though,” Hoppa said. “That's the No. 15 team in the country, deservedly so, and our team was better for a large part of the game."
Auburn travels to Tuscaloosa for the Iron Bowl of soccer next week on Thursday, Oct. 5. The Tigers will face No. 9 Alabama with a 6 p.m. CT start time. The match will be available on the SEC Network.
