AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 6 Auburn Tigers (9-0-1) beat the Florida Gators (3-2-5) Sunday afternoon at the Auburn Soccer Complex 1-0 behind a strong performance from Maddie Prohaska. In a defensive fight, the only score would come from Jordan Crosby, who scored in the 67th minute through a mess of Florida defenders.
After a blazing hot 8-0 start to the season, all of those wins shutouts, Auburn tied last Thursday against Vanderbilt, 2-2, with a late tying goal from the Commodores. After a disappointing tie, the Tigers needed to gain that early season spark once again, but it was barely found in the first half against Florida. Only giving up six goals in their nine previous games, scoring was not going to be easy against this Florida team and this Auburn team knew it. After the game, Karen Hoppa said this Florida team was the “best Florida team we’ve seen in quite a few years and thought they were really good and I thought they looked even better than they did on film”. Even with this great Florida defense, the Auburn strikers kept on pressing in the first half but could not come up with any great opportunities at the net coming away with 2 first half shots, neither of which were on goal.
After a slow start in the first half, Karen Hoppa challenged her team to “be better, play our game, play through each other” and that is exactly what they did in the second half. Many of the Auburn players have been using this mindset of being tenacious and determined, rising above their competition in the second half when the second half starts to get tough. The Tigers came out a lot more aggressive the second half, a large credit to Sydnie Thibodaux coming off the bench, drawing fouls and putting the great Florida defense on their heels and allowing more set plays for the Tigers. With nine second half fouls against the Gators, these costly mistakes allowed Auburn to put up 10 more shots, four of which were on goal. The Tigers only needed one to win, which came from Jordyn Crosby in the 67th minute off a free kick cross from Anna Haddock.
A player not to be overlooked is Maddie Prohaska as she left a huge impact as she picked up ninth clean sheet of the season and her 33rd career clean sheet, tying Megan Riviera’s program record. When asked about tying this record this afternoon, she honored her teammates by saying, "It’s not just about me, but all the defenders I have played with the past 5 years, I have played with some phenomenal players.” One of the biggest highlights of the game today came late in the first half when Prohaska was one-on-one with a Florida forward and made a sliding kick save which held off Florida’s momentum heading into half-time. Although she did not have a large responsibility in the second half in terms of shots on goal, she continued her stellar play.
Maddie Prokaska and the Tigers look to continue their hot streak as they travel to Texas A&M (6-4-0) Thursday. You can watch it on ESPN+.
