AUBURN, Ala. — The LSU soccer team lost a critical Southeastern Conference match on Sunday, as the Tigers relinquished two first-half goals to the Auburn Tigers on the road at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
“We just got outplayed today,” said LSU head coach George Fotopoulos. “Last year, we kept Auburn from making the SEC Tournament and today they made our chances to make the tournament very slim. As poorly as we played today, we still had chances to score, but we just couldn’t capitalize on them.”
LSU dropped to an overall record of 7-4-3 with the loss and fell to a 1-3-2 mark against SEC opponents. Auburn improved to a 7-5-1 overall record on the season and notched its third conference victory of the year. Auburn completed a weekend sweep of SEC Western Division rivals and upped its conference mark to 3-3.
Auburn earned an early 1-0 lead in the contest as sophomore defender Sandra Carnes scored her first goal of the season on a three-yard shot into the left-hand corner of the goal.
The score came at the 25:02 mark in the contest and was set up beautifully by Ginger Sellick’s fourth assist of the season. Sellick set up Carnes on a precise crossing pass to the front of the net.
“I have to give a lot of credit to Auburn,” Fotopoulos said. “They were the better team today and they came out and played very inspired soccer. We tried the best that we could under the circumstances, and that’s all that we could do.”
With the goal, the Auburn Tigers earned their first opening-half goal since Sept. 2, when the Tigers defeated Tennessee-Chattanooga, 6-0. Auburn scored two first-half goals in the non-conference battle against UT-Chattanooga prior to beginning a 12-game first-half scoring drought.
At the 38:14 mark in the Western Division contest, Auburn upped its lead to 2-0 as Michelle Mione headed in a Kellie Evans corner kick from five yards out. Mione, a freshman from Seminole, Fla., earned her first collegiate goal on Sunday, while Evans notched her fifth assist of the 2001 campaign. LSU turned in a lackluster first-half performance on Sunday.
Auburn held the Tigers to only one shot in the first half of play and limited LSU to two first-half corner kicks. Auburn accumulated 13 shots in the opening half with six of them being on goal.
With the win, Auburn won its fourth-straight contest against LSU at home in the Auburn Soccer Complex. Auburn leads the all-time series, 4-3, and the home team has been victorious in each of the games in the rivalry. Last season, LSU earned a 1-0 shutout in Baton Rouge.
The LSU soccer team will next be in action on Friday, Oct. 26, as the Tigers head to Athens, Ga., for an SEC match-up with the Georgia Lady Bulldogs at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Soccer Stadium.
Auburn (7-5-1, 3-3) def. LSU (7-4-3, 1-3-2), 2-0.
Auburn 2 0 – 2
LSU 0 0 – 0
Scoring: Auburn, Carnes 25:02 (assist Sellick), Mione 38:14 (assist Evans).