The Auburn soccer team could not find the back of the net on Friday night, getting shutout by No. 13 Missouri, 2-0, in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.

 

“I thought we fought hard, I just thought Missouri was better at what they did than we were at what we were trying to do,” Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. “We have to do a better job of connecting passes when we get the ball and keeping it. There were too many times when we had unforced errors and turned over the ball.”

 

Auburn (4-4-0, 0-1-0 SEC) had its opportunities in the match, taking 14 shots, including nine on frame, but twice shots ricocheted off the crossbar and then it had another stopped by a Missouri defender.

 

Missouri (6-1-0, 1-0-0 SEC) fired off 19 shots and found the back of the net once in each half. Kaysie Clark put Missouri up, 1-0, in the 29^th minute with a low, hard strike from the top of the 18 for her second goal of the season.

 

Haley Krentz extended the lead to 2-0 for Missouri in the 52^nd minute when she drilled a shot over the arms of a leaping Amy Howard for her second goal of the season.

 

Howard, the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week, kept Auburn in the match as she finished with nine saves, giving her 19 stops in her last two matches.

 

“The two goals were great finishes. Amy played well and kept us in the game and gave us a chance. She did just about everything she could do,” Hoppa said. “We need her to continue to play like that and if we can play a little bit better offensively we will be alright.”

 

Tatiana Coleman fired a shot off the crossbar in the first half and Ana Cate in the second for two of Auburn’s best scoring chances. A third came when Tori Ball leapt over a diving Missouri goalkeeper, McKenzie Sauerwein, but her hard-angle shot midway through the second half was stopped by a Missouri defender standing on the goal line.

 

“We had some very good looks,” Hoppa said. “We are close but we were a little bit off tonight. Hopefully it is something we can build on.”

 

Auburn returns to the field on Sunday at 2pm when it plays host to Florida, which also fell in its SEC opener on Friday night.

 

Follow Auburn Soccer on twitter @AU_Soccer.