On Sunday afternoon the Tigers traveled to Winston-Salem, NC to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. This is the first matchup between the teams since 2011, when the Demon Deacons took the win 4-1 at the Auburn soccer complex.
It was a hard-fought game through all 90 minutes but neither team could find a way to victory, with the game ending in a 0-0 tie. Auburn had the best chance of the whole match with a penalty kick attempt, but Anna Haddock’s shot from the spot was denied by Wake Forest keep Kaitlyn Parks, who had four saves on the day. Auburn keeper Maddie Prohaska continued her hot start with her third clean sheet of the year while making five saves in the process.
Auburn just could not find a way to get it done on the offensive side, only taking six shots with four of them being on goal. The Demon Deacons had more chances than the Tigers, taking twelve shots with five on goal but none found their way past Prohaska and into the back of the net.
“Today, I thought we grew into the game, again, but we’ve got to work on starting stronger and starting more aggressive from an offensive standpoint,” said coach Karen Hoppa about the offensive performance of the Tigers
Throughout it was a tightly officiated game with many stops in play. Auburn would have eight fouls called on them to Wake Forest’s sixteen fouls. Both teams would also collect two yellow cards with Auburn’s Maddie Simpson and Carly Thatcher being booked for the Tigers and Giovanna DeMarco and Emily Morris booked for the Demon Deacons. Overall, it was a hard-fought game where both teams had periods where the momentum would be on their side.
Coming out of this week with no losses and two ties, the Auburn Tigers can hang their heads high and not get down on themselves. Going on the road to Tallahassee and Winston-Salem and coming out with no losses is a great testament to what this Auburn team can accomplish this season under Coach Hoppa and the veteran leadership on the pitch.
“Lots to learn from these games for sure, but they were two very challenging matches on the road,” Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said when talking about the past two matches after the game.
The wins will come, but the lessons learned from these past two match-ups will benefit the Tigers as they transition to SEC play very soon.
