McKenzie Barney’s shot deflected off of Auburn defender Mary Nicholson and past Auburn goalkeeper Amy Howard in the 98^th minute to give No. 8 Florida a 3-2, comeback win over No. 21 Auburn in Southeastern Conference soccer action on Friday night. The loss dropped Auburn’s record to 9-3-1, 3-2-0 SEC while Florida improved to 11-3-0, 4-1-0 SEC.

 

“It’s a heartbreaker. We played terrific,” Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. “I thought we did what we had to do win the game. We had a pair of corners in overtime that we couldn’t convert and we gave up basically an own goal; If it doesn’t hit Mary Nicholson, it doesn’t go in. Florida is a fantastic team and it was a great soccer game.”

 

Auburn had held a 2-1 lead after 52 minutes of play as Ana Cate scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season in the 34^th minute and Auburn took advantage of a Florida own goal in the 52^nd minute. Florida rallied, however, for a game-tying goal in the 58^th minute and Barney’s golden goal in the first overtime period.

 

Auburn capitalized on a Florida turnover in its defensive third as to go up 1-0 on Cate’s score. Katy Frierson stole an errant UF pass, dribbled up to the top of the 18 and then crossed it to an on-rushing Cate, who fired from a step inside the box for her seventh goal in the last eight games. The goal came on Auburn’s first shot of the match after Florida had dominated the possession and scoring opportunities for most of the first half.

 

Frierson had the first and only assist on the goal, the 10^th of the season for the senior and the 39^th of her career, tying her with Ole Miss’ Jennifer Soileau for sixth in SEC history. Of her 10 assists this season, four have come on Cate goals.

 

Florida wasted little time tying the game up out of intermission as Erika Tymrak collected her 10^th goal of the season in the 49^th minute, taking a Havana Solaun feed and faking out an Auburn defender and slotting it out of the reach of a diving Howard to make it 1-1.

 

Auburn reclaimed the lead, 2-1, just three minutes later as Florida put in an own goal on a defensive miscue. A Florida defender had tried to clear a long-range service from Auburn into the box but as she put a foot on it, the spin on the bounce allowed the ball to slip between Florida goalkeeper Taylor Burke and the post as Burke elected not to put a glove on it as it appeared it would slide out of bounds over the end line but instead spun into the side netting.

 

Florida made up for the own goal just just six minutes later when Tymrak scored her second of the match, this one unassisted, on a shot similar to her first goal, beating a diving Howard.

 

The overtime match was just the second of the season for Auburn, which played to a 2-2 draw with Colorado on Sept. 16. It was also just the second overtime match in the Auburn-Florida series, the other coming in 2003, a 1-0 Florida win in Gainesville.

 

Auburn concludes its four-match road trip on Sunday when it faces South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.

 

Follow Auburn Soccer on twitter @AU_Soccer.