Sept. 29, 2013
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OXFORD, Miss. - The Auburn soccer team suffered two early goals in the first half against No. 24 Ole Miss on Sunday and wasn't able to recover, falling 7-0 to the Rebels. Auburn drops to 4-6-1 on the season and 0-3-0 in SEC play, while Ole Miss improves to 9-2-1 and 2-1-0 in conference play.
"Credit to Ole Miss. They have a terrific team and they capitalized on their chances," Auburn head coach Karen Hoppa said. "I felt like we had some good early looks in the first half that could have changed the game, but Ole Miss put the game away. It's a disappointing loss, but we're going to have to bounce back in a hurry."
Barely two minutes into the match, Ole Miss struck first with a goal by Bethany Bunker, her fourth of the year. The Rebels got a far side cross from Rafaelle Souza just inside the six-yard box and Bunker poked it past Auburn goalkeeper, junior Alicen Wright.
The Rebels scored again barely a minute later as Mandy McCalla scored on an Ole Miss corner kick from the near side. Souza was again awarded the assist as McCalla scored her eighth of the year off the header to give Ole Miss the 2-0 lead.
For the remainder of the first half, Auburn started to get many good looks at goal, ending up with five shots in the first period. The Tigers had a chance to cut the deficit in half after senior Bianca Sierra found herself on a breakaway nearing the ninth minute. Ole Miss keeper Kelly McCormick came out to make the play and collided with Sierra. McCormick was called for the yellow card giving Sierra the free kick. However, the kick from 20 yards out went just wide keeping the score at 2-0.
The second half was much of the same as Ole Miss scored two quick goals again to start the period. Bunker scored her second of the day, ninth of the season, after just 30 seconds of the new period to give the Rebels the 3-0 lead. Two minutes later, Olivia Harrison followed suit to break open the match for Ole Miss, a 4-0 lead.
McCalla became the Rebels' second two-goal scorer of the day, getting another past Wright in the 58th minute to push the Ole Miss lead even further to 5-0.
Emily Reid found the back of the net in the 79th minute to extend the Rebel lead to 6-0 for her first goal of the year. Unfortunately, Ole Miss wasn't finished as the seventh goal of the day was scored in the 86th minute by Addie Forbus to give the final score of 7-0.
Auburn returns home to face Texas A&M on Friday Oct. 4 in the AU Soccer Complex with first kick at 7 p.m. The team will then travel to Gainesville, Fla., to face Florida on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m.
For complete coverage of the Auburn soccer team, be sure to check AuburnTigers.com, follow them on Twitter, @AU_Soccer or like the Auburn University soccer page on Facebook.