On Sunday, Auburn soccer (12-1-2) won their first game in Knoxville in almost half a decade as Olivia Woodson scored two goals to lead the Tigers past the Tennessee Volunteers 3-2.
In a foul-heavy first half from Tennessee, including one that took Dylan Driver out of the game with an injury in the 18th minute, the aggressiveness of the Tiger’s offense put a lot of pressure onto the Volunteer’s defense early, causing 11 first half penalties, most of those coming on Tennessee's side of the field. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before Auburn’s offense would put a ball in the back of the net, and they finally did in the 20th minute as Carly Thatcher broke past the left side of Tennessee’s defense and kicked it to Olivia Woodson in the middle of the box, where she tapped in her team-high ninth goal to put up the Tigers up 1-0.
It did not take Tennessee any time to come back on the attack, however, as they used their wide 4-4-2 formation to attack the great Auburn defense and space them out. Off a great cross to the top of the box, Tennessee’s Stayart sent a great ball to the top right of the goal just outside of Maddie Prohaska’s reach.
Going into the second half, Karen Hoppa wanted more play towards her wings so that they could attack Tennessee’s defense like they were in the first half and so much this season. Following her coach’s words, two minutes out of the halftime break, Olivia Woodson made something out of nothing, as she beat four Tennessee defenders from midfield and scored her 10th goal of the season, which put Auburn up 2-1.
It looked like Auburn might continue putting up goals, but a scary collision between Auburn Captain Anna Haddock and an opposing defender in the box forced Haddock off the pitch and into concussion protocol in the locker room. Missing such an important player even for a little bit of time allowed Tennessee to regain momentum as they maintained heavy control on Auburn’s side of the field and forced an important corner in the 53rd minute. Off a great placed corner, Reese Mattern headed it into the corner of the goal past Prohaska, who was several feet off her line trying to defend the corner.
However, the momentum switched just a couple minutes later when Anna Haddock came back onto the field.
Tennessee looked for a tie late, but Auburn kept the pressure on Tennessee's defense in order to regain the lead and earn a full three points in the standings. In the 79th minute, Sydney Thibodaux scored a screamer from outside the box to make it 3-2. Thibodaux knew what she was doing from the moment she got the ball, as she immediately put it on goal, sending it past Tennessee goalie Ally Zazzara. Auburn's defense maintained the lead for the final 11 minutes to emerge victorious, 3-2.
Auburn hopes to continue their hot streak against a good Kentucky team in Lexington on Friday, October 18th at 6:30pm on ESPN+.
