Auburn Soccer (6-0) extended its winning streak to 11 games last night in a 5-nil victory over (0-5-1) Alabama A&M. The No. 10 Tigers dominated on the offensive end, getting 49 shots and 18 shots on goal while the Bulldogs could not register a single shot in the contest.
Marissa Arias was the first Tiger to find the back of the net during the match, scoring her first goal, off the assist from M.E. Craven and Alyssa Malonson, in just the ninth minute of play.
The rest of the first half scoring for the Tigers came from Carly Thatcher. The freshman scored the first goal of her young career in the 33rd minute and followed it up with another goal only 30 seconds later. The Tigers headed to the locker room up 3-nil, with 24 total shots in the first half while Alabama A&M failed to have any shots.
To open the second half, it was Marissa Arias leading the way, scoring her second goal of the night only 25 seconds into the second half to give Auburn a 4-nil lead. Arias finished the night with six total shots, four of which were on goal and one assist.
The final Auburn goal of the night came from Thatcher who would find the back of the net in the 64th minute. This gave Hatcher the first hat trick of her career and the first one from an Auburn player this season. Hatcher is only the second freshman since 2011 to record a hat trick for the Tigers, the other being teammate Mallory Mooney.
“That was seriously such a highlight, I think probably of my whole life. It was so cool,” Thatcher said of the hat trick. “I guess it was just luck or something, but they kept coming. It felt really good to be able to do that with the minutes that I had.”
For the Bulldogs, they were unable to find any gaps in the Auburn defense, getting zero shots in the match. Maddie Prohaska got the win, remaining on the pitch for the full 90 minutes but never faced any attack from the Bulldogs, finishing the night with zero saves.
Jodie Medina, the goalkeeper for the Bulldogs, experienced the opposite. With 18 shots on goal by the Tigers, Medina allowed five goals but had 13 saves as well. Medina and the Bulldogs will be back home next Thursday with Austin Peay coming to Huntsville.
The Tigers will be back on the pitch this Sunday at 2 p.m. CST when No. 1 Florida State comes to the Auburn Soccer Complex. That game will be broadcast live on WEGL 91.1 FM in conjunction with the Auburn Sports Network and will have Aidan Kowlaski and Jacob Goins on the call.
