Ana Cate scored her eighth goal of the season and Tatiana Coleman had a pair of assists as the Auburn soccer team upset No. 18 LSU, 3-1, on Friday night in a crucial SEC Western Division matchup. With the win Auburn improved to 10-4-1, 4-3-0 SEC and pulls to within a game of LSU (10-5-1, 5-2-0 SEC) in the division standings.

 

“This was a big one. We needed that after the three-game losing streak,” Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. “LSU is a fantastic team and it was great to see us not just get the win but also play so well. We felt like we were the underdog coming in and it definitely helped us because we played more blue-collar.”

 

Cate, who came into the match with seven goals and no assists, added to her points total with a goal in the 26^th minute that put the team up 1-0 and then had the second assist on what turned out to be the game-winner, Tori Ball’s tally in the 62^nd minute.

 

“LSU is a huge rival and to be able to get the first goal really made us think that we could get it done,” Cate said. “When we got the second goal from Tori, that really got us going.”

 

Coleman, whose three-match pointless streak coincided with Auburn’s three-match losing streak, had the first assist on both Cate’s goal and Ball’s goal, crossing the ball to Cate at the top of the box and then getting a head on Cate’s cross to Ball, who buried it from the top of the six.

 

After LSU narrowed the deficit to a goal, 2-1, in the 76^th minute off of Natalie Martineau’s fourth goal of the year, Katy Frierson answered four minutes later with her fourth goal of the year, cementing Auburn’s first win over LSU since 2007 and its second win over a top-25 team this season.

 

While the offense was doing all of the scoring, Auburn’s defense was holding LSU’s offense in check, limiting it to just eight total shots, two in the first half and six in the second with three of them going on frame. That made the work of Auburn goalkeeper Amy Howard a little easier as she didn’t face the high number of shots she had seen in her first six matches of the season, when Auburn surrendered double-digit shots in each, though she did make a couple of spectacular saves.

 

Frierson’s goal was the 26^th of her career, giving her 92 career points, which is now five shy of tying the school record of 97 set by Jill Palmer from 1995-98.

 

Auburn returns to the field on Sunday at 2pm when it plays host to Arkansas. The game is the annual ‘Power In Pink’ match and fans are encouraged to wear pink to the match.

 

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