After kicking off their season with a 1-nill win versus Old Dominion, the Auburn Tigers (2-0) took on the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, (1-1) on August 21st. The Golden Eagles were themselves coming off a 9-0 win versus Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Auburn's domination reared its head early when Maddie Simpson was assisted by Sydney Richards to score the first goal at the seven-minute mark. With two more goals coming in the first half by way of Anna Haddock, and Carly Thatcher, while only allowing the Golden Eagles one shot. This led to the Tigers being out in front 3-0 at the end of the first half.
Auburn got of to an even quicker start by the way of Hayden Colson scoring her maiden goal to put the Tigers up four goals to none three minutes into the second half. The Tigers decided the four goals were not enough as the Tigers scored five more goals before time let out, including a Brooke Berdan penalty kick goal that helped cement the 9-0 Tiger victory.
Fouls seemed to be a common occurrence for the Golden Eagles committed 10 fouls throughout the game. Helping the Tigers win the shot battle with 28 total with 13 on goal, compared to Southern Miss who had four shots two of which were on goal.
Maddie Prohaska got her second clean sheet of the season producing two saves. Southern Miss’s goalkeepers had split time with the starter Lena playing the first 70 minutes with three saves and seven goals allowed. Her replacement, Kesaia Bruni faired better with two saves and two goals allowed.
Auburn will be on the road for their next match, in what will be the Tigers first true test in the number one team in the nation Florida State. The energy in Tallahassee is sure to be electric as the two titans meet at 5:00 p.m. CST on the ACC network.
