Auburn Stopped By No. 13 Florida, 2-1, In OT

by Dan Froehlich Auburn Media Relations

September 16, 2012

No. 13 Florida’s Adriana Leon scored with 32 seconds left in the first overtime period as the Auburn soccer team dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker on Sunday afternoon.

“We stuck to our game plan, the effort was good and we defended hard but it’s a heartbreaker,” Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. “It’s a game where we had our chances but we let it get away a little bit because we didn’t finish the opportunities we had. Against a team like Florida you are not going to have a lot. Credit to Florida. They made two more plays than we did and that was the difference in the ballgame.”

Auburn struck first in the match as Mary Coffed scored Auburn’s quickest goal of the season, slotting in her third goal of the season in the fifth minute of the match. Tatiana Coleman possessed the ball on the far side of the 18 and sent a cross to Coffed, who broke through the Florida defense and slotted her shot back to the far post for the early 1-0 lead.

Auburn maintained the one-goal advantage through the rest of the first half and into the 73^rd minute before Florida (4-3-1, 1-1-0 SEC) took advantage of a free kick to tie it at 1-1. Jo Dragotta sent the free kick into the box where Holly King was able to gain control long enough to slip one by Auburn goalkeeper Amy Howard.

Florida again took advantage of an Auburn foul to score its overtime goal as Erika Tymrak quickly put the ball in play following the foul and found Leon, who dribbled to the top of the 18 before sliding a shot past Howard for the game-winner.

“She hit a great shot,” Hoppa said of Leon’s goal. “She hit it in the corner and (Amy) Howard was extended and couldn’t quite get a finger on it. They played a quick free kick and they transitioned out of the foul quicker than we did. We left her open and they punished it for us.”

The overtime match was the first of the season for Auburn, which fell to 4-5-0, 0-2-0 SEC.

Auburn returns to action on Friday in its first SEC road match of the season as it travels to LSU for a 7pm kick.

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