Ana Cate scored twice and Julie King had a goal and two assists as the No. 23 Auburn soccer team ran its winning streak to five straight matches with a 4-2 win at Samford on Friday night. The win improved Auburn’s record to 5-1-0 while Samford fell to 2-4-0.

 

“Samford kept coming and credit to our team that we did as well,” Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. “We went down a goal, tied it up, went up a goal and then they came back and tied it again. We kept fighting. On the road it’s all about finding a way to get the result.”

 

Cate scored in the 12^th and 84^th minutes, initially tying the game at 1-1 and then giving Auburn the 4-2 lead in the closing minutes. King, meanwhile, scored in the 70^th minute to put Auburn up 3-2 and also had an assist on Cate’s second goal and Mary Coffed’s goal in the 17^th minute.

 

“The first one I got came just a few seconds after they scored on us,” Cate said. “We were a little on our heels. They came out fast and much stronger than we were ready for. To get the equalizer after they scored on us was a great feeling and got us back and ready to go.”

 

“Ana really did a great job of helping us to respond to giving up the first early goal. Less than two minutes after they scored, we come down and get a great look and Ana did a great job of keeping it on frame,” Hoppa said. “The fourth goal of the game really iced the match for us. The best thing about the fourth goal was it was on a corner and she did her job. She did exactly what she was supposed to do. She was near-post and turned around and framed it.”

 

The five-match winning streak is the longest for Auburn since the 2006 season, when Auburn went 6-1 in non-conference play.

 

Cate, who had entered the match without a point this season, blasted a shot off the fingertips of Samford goalkeeper Alyssa Whitehead in the 12^th minute to answer Samford’s goal in the 10^th minute and tie it at 1-1. Katy Frierson fed Cate, her third assist of the season and the 32^nd of her career, which is two shy of the school record held by Maggie Cauley (1994-97).

 

Cate solidified the outcome in the 84^th minute as Auburn converted on a corner kick. Coffed served it into the box and it was bounced around by Ashley Kotero and headed by King to Cate, who turned and fired from inside the six.

 

King had given Auburn a 3-2 lead with just over 20 minutes left when she beat a Samford defender at the top of the box and then fired one upper 90. The goal was the second of the season for King and the third of four points on the night for the senior defender.

 

“I thought we did well of dealing with the chaos,” King said of the Samford soccer record crowd of 1,321. “Anytime you come to Birmingham to play Samford it is going to be a great game. It was a tough game and very physical but I thought we played well.”

 

Samford struck first as Sarah Wilkinson netted her third goal of the season, pushing one to the right of Auburn goalkeeper Chandler Hillen in the 10^th minute for a 1-0 lead. The goal snapped Hillen’s scoreless streak at 281:19 after she had posted three consecutive shutouts to be named the SEC Freshman of the Week.

 

Coffed’s third goal of the season snapped a 1-1 tie and gave Auburn its first lead of the match in the 17^th minute. King, who was attacking for the majority of the match, found Coffed, who then buried it to the right of Whitehead.

 

Lindsay Matern tied the match at 2-2 when she converted on a free kick from 25 yards out in the 57^th minute. Hillen was able to get a glove on it but she could not slow it down enough.

 

Auburn took 18 shots to Samford’s eight in the first half and had 11 corners to none for Samford.

 

Auburn’s next match will take place in Denver, Colo., when it faces Colorado at 3pm CT on Friday, Sept. 16. That is the first of two games in Denver for Auburn, which will then face Denver at 10am on Sunday..