Auburn Soccer Faces Off With Two In-State Matches, Earns Win and Tie

March 6, 2005

Auburn -- For their second day of spring games, the Auburn Tigers faced the Samford Bulldogs and the Birmingham Southern Panthers on Auburn's home turf.  Auburn beat Samford in their first match of the day 3-0 and tied BSC 1-1 in the second.
 
The Tigers wasted no time before they put their first goal in the net in the Samford game.  Only 4:10 into the game, a great combination play found Kristin Stewart wide open in front of the goal. Sister Jada Stewart started the play by finding Ashley Willis in the front line.  Willis turned on the defenders and played Kristin Stewart in behind the defense, who then buried it in the right hand corner of the net past Samford goalkeeper Emily Morris.
 
The scoring didn't stop there.  In the 18th minute it was Kristin Stewart again fighting for another look at goal when she was tripped up in the box by the Samford defense.  Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa gave the penalty kick to Ronda Brooks who powered the ball into the side of the goal out of the reach of goalkeeper Morris.
 
Auburn had another close chance in the first half when Jessie Allan played a ball splitting the defenders through to Kristin Stewart.  Stewart had a one-on-one with Morris, but the shot was blocked as Morris made a sliding save.
 
Auburn's final goal came midway through the second half off a corner kick from Jenny Zarzour. Zarzour's kick found its way to the backpost where Jac Schwarz reserved the ball into the mix. Jada Stewart knocked the ball down and Lacey Rush got a foot on it and finished it past Samford's defense.
 
Auburn had dangerous chances in both the first and second halves of play.  Two chances came back-to-back when Samford's Morris got a piece of Willis' one-on-one shot that deflected to Courtney Crandell's feet.  With Morris out of position, Crandell struck the ball, but Samford's Jessica Meija was on the goal line and made a back save.
 
The second match of the day found the Auburn Tigers a little more frustrated.  The first half of play left both Auburn and BSC scoreless. While Auburn had four shots on goal, and eight total, the best chance of the half came from BSC.  BSC's forward took a touch past the defenders and went one on one against Auburn's goalkeeper Anna Fiser.  Fiser came out and pressured the forward forcing her to miss wide.
 
The second half was a different story for both teams.  At 41:02 in the game, the Tigers
capitalized again off a corner kick. This time the kick came from Crandell, which eventually found Zarzour for the goal. The serve found Schwartz back post as she headed the ball down to Zarzour, who then headed it past BSC's goalkeeper Andria Gray. The goal was Zarzour's first in the spring season.
 
BSC answered back with only 6:46 remaining in the game when a penalty kick was called in their favor. It was Catherine Spiker of BSC who sent the ball past Fiser to tie up the game.
 
Auburn had solid chances for a comeback down the stretch. With 4:16 remaining, a free kick was called right outside the box in favor of the Tigers. Crandell struck the ball over the wall, but Gray made a great save, deflecting the ball into the box. Two shots followed, one was saved again by Gray the other hit the crossbar.  
 
Fiser made a huge save with only two seconds left on the clock when BSC's forward got free from her defender and launched a shot at Fiser from the 12-yard mark. Fiser got her hands up and knocked the ball out of bounds as the buzzer sounded.
 
In all the Tigers recorded 19 shots with 11 on frame and seven cornerkicks versus BSC's total of three shots and no corners.
 
"We created a number of scoring opportunities today we couldn't finish," Hoppa said.  "We need to work on finishing a higher percentage of those chances.
 
"The games were only 60 minutes long and that makes it tough for the players because you can't afford to miss the big opportunities."
 
The Tigers will now take on Peachtree City Sunday, March 13 at home. Game time has yet to be set. Check back at auburntigers.com for more details.