UA soccer
Top-seeded Arkansas held on to defeat Auburn 4-3 on Tuesday at the SEC Women’s Soccer Tournament in Orange Beach, Ala. The Razorbacks advanced to the tournament semifinals, where they will face fourth-seeded South Carolina on Thursday.
ARKANSAS 4, AUBURN 3
Top-seeded Arkansas nearly landed a haymaker with four goals in the early minutes of its quarterfinal game against Auburn at the SEC Soccer Tournament on Tuesday.
The Tigers proved to be down but not out, though, and mounted a furious second-half comeback that fell just short at the Orange Beach (Ala.) Sportsplex.
Arkansas held on for a 4-3 victory and advanced to play in the tournament semifinals against fourth-seeded South Carolina on Thursday at 6 p.m. The Gamecocks defeated Missouri 3-2 in the quarterfinals.
The Razorbacks (8-1) are in the tournament semifinals for the fifth consecutive season.
Arkansas Coach Colby Hale said his team wasn’t happy with the way it played after halftime. Auburn’s three goals were the most allowed this year by the Razorbacks.
“I think they were frustrated,” Hale said. “That’s the sign of a great team, though. You win a game to advance and you’re frustrated. That shows me they have high standards.”
Auburn scored twice in the first eight minutes of the second half, and pulled within 4-3 on Anna Haddock’s goal with 3:06 remaining.
The Tigers (4-4-2) had a chance to tie the game with a corner kick in the final minute, but M.E. Craven’s shot was wide left.
Auburn outshot Arkansas 13-6 after halftime, including 6-4 on goal. The game was played on the Razorbacks’ half of the field for most of the final 45 minutes.
“The second half, we didn’t come out as strong as we typically do and let them set the pace a little bit,” said Kayla McKeon, a redshirt senior midfielder who was named second-team All-SEC last week. “That’s not really how we normally play. I think we were just on our heels a little bit the entire second half and never got full control of the ball.”
Facing the prospect of playing up to three games in six days, Hale hoped to get his starters some rest with the big lead. The Razorbacks began the second half with several reserves, but rushed the starting 11 back onto the field after Sydney Richards pulled the Tigers within 4-2 on a goal in the 52nd minute.
Richards’ goal came three minutes after Mallory Mooney first put Auburn on the scoreboard.
The Razorbacks scored four goals between the eighth and 22nd minutes. Three of the goals — including two by McKeon — followed Arkansas corner kicks, and the Razorbacks also scored when Taylor Malham rebounded a save on a penalty kick by Anna Podojil to go ahead 2-0.