AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn Tigers ( 7-6-4 SEC: 3-4-2) played their last home regular season game this past Friday in Tiger battle against the Tigers of LSU ( 8-6-4 SEC: 3-4-2). Auburn would clinch their 11th SEC point of the season after the 3-0 victory accredited in large part to Maddie Simpson who made the most of her senior day with a brace.
Simpson, who scored in the sixth and 74th minute, recorded her first two goals of the season. The brace gave Simpson nine carrer goals at Auburn, along with recording the 82 time a player has scored two goals in an Auburn uniform.
"It feels great to get a win like this with the ones I love," Simpson said. "We played gutsy, and we took some brave chances and they really paid off for us. I'm just happy to have been a part of a full team win like this."
Simpson’s first goal came from a free kick taken by Anna Haddock, the assist awarded to Haddock being the 30th assist of her career.
Haddock wouldn’t have to wait long for her 31st assist as a corner kick to Jessica Osborne in the 21st minute would give Auburn a 2-0 lead and making Osbourne the sixth first-time goal scorer this season.
"It's awesome to see our hard work pay off," Haddock said. "It's a true testament to the people I've been playing with the past four years. I can't get an assist without someone finishing and scoring, so shoutout to Simp and Jess for a pair of incredible goals."
"I'm super excited that we could get a win for our seniors," Osborne said. "We laid it all out on the line, and that's what we're going to have to continue to do moving forward if we want to reach our postseason goals."
Senior Goalkeeper Maddie Prohaska would produce her sixth clean sheet for the Tigers this season with three saves and her 24th shutout of the year.
Simpson hammered home the 3-0 win with a goal in the 74th minute leading to Auburn getting their 11th point of the season now tying Vanderbilt for eighth in the SEC standings meaning Auburn is in good shape to end the 2023 season with a trip to Pensacola for the SEC tournament.
"What a great response by our team," Tigers head coach Karen Hoppa said. "We were super disappointed with the way we played and the result of last match in Gainesville, but we took back control tonight. This league is just so punishing. If you don't bring your best every game, someone else will. I'm so proud of the team for turning it around and putting together a wonderful performance against a really good LSU club."
Before Auburn can see the sandy beaches of Pensacola, they have one final road test against a team that has locked up the east division of the SEC, in the Bulldogs of Georgia on Thursday, October 26th at 5:00 p.m. CT. The match will be available to stream on SEC Network+.
