PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 5-seed LSU Soccer team (11-5-3) took down the No. 12-seed Auburn Tigers (5-6-7) in the first round of the 2025 SEC Tournament on Sunday night at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex.
The win booked a spot in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal round for LSU, where they’ll take on the No. 4 seed Tennessee Lady Vols at 7 p.m. CT on Tuesday, November 4 on SEC Network.
LSU opened the game on the attacking foot and scored the fastest goal on the day between all first round matches on Sunday. Defender Jocelyn Ollivierre took a long free kick from midfield and pinged the ball into the box, which was then headed to the center of the box by Jazmin Ferguson to Galligan, who headed it home into the back of the net in just the eighth minute. The goal took Galligan’s tally on the season to nine, while the assists were Ferguson’s third of the year and Ollivierre’s first.
Following the goal, LSU remained in control of the match and kept Auburn’s offense at bay. Goalkeeper Sophine Kevorkian registered her first save in the 17th minute as she calmly caught a shot from Auburn’s Erin Flurey.
The LSU lead was extended to 2-0 in the 27th minute by Witz. LSU pressed Auburn in their own half and forced a takeaway on the right flank. Midfielder Gabbi Ceballos sent a ground pass to Witz, who took a touch on her left foot before shooting a powerful shot with her right from 25 yards out that floated above the Auburn goalkeeper and into the back of the net. The goal was Witz’s fourth of the season while the assist was Ceballos’ third.
LSU held firm for the remainder of the half to keep the 2-0 lead after the first 45 minutes of play.
The second half saw Auburn open with attacking intent, forcing saves from Kevorkian in the 63rd and 66th minutes. Auburn scored their first goal of the night and cut the lead to 2-1 in the 69th minute when Driver headed the ball home from a corner.
LSU did not flinch after the goal and responded with a goal of their own in the 78th minute to make it 3-1 on the night. Midfielder Ava Amsden sent a through ball into the box to Gadea Blanco Gonzalez. Gonzalez shrugged off her defender and chipped the ball with her left foot from 10 yards out that floated above the goalkeeper and into the right corner of the net. It was the second goal of the season for Gonzalez, who scored in back-to-back games after recently earning her first career goal last week in the Tigers regular season finale against Florida. For Amsden, it’s her second assist of the year.
Auburn continued to test Kevorkian in the final 20 minutes of the match in search of their second goal and forced saves in the 79th and 83rd minutes. They ultimately found their second goal in the 85th minute, when Sallee capitalized on a defensive error by LSU and shot the ball into an open net to make it 3-2 with five minutes to play.
The tying goal did not come for Auburn, who had three corners in the final 90 seconds of the match; two of those corners were cleared away by the defense and the other ended in a goalkeeper save from Kevorkian. LSU fought until the final whistle to hold the match at 3-2 in favor of the Purple & Gold.
Sunday’s win marked the second year in a row that LSU defeated Auburn in the first round of SEC’s to advance to the next round.
LSU was efficient on their chances against Auburn, taking four shots on goal and three of them resulting in goals, while Auburn took 20 attempts and eight were on target.
Kevorkian finished the night with six saves in between the posts, which tied her season-high single game total. The three goals scored by LSU tonight means that the Tigers have now scored three or more goals in four of its past five matches and increased the unbeaten streak to eight matches, the longest in program history.
LSU returns to action in Pensacola on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CT when they take on the No. 4-seed Tennessee Lady Vols. The Lady Vols are 12-2-3 on the season and were the last team to beat LSU in Knoxville on September 21st.
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