The Auburn Plainsman
Sports, D8
BASKETBALL >From D1
team,” Smalley said. “We have four freshmen coming in and we’ll just continue to get better.” Auburn head coach Nell Fortner said Smalley knows her role this season and has done a good job embracing that role. She feels Smalley will continue to improve as the go-to player in the offense. Hilliard and freshman guard Nicolle Thomas each recorded 13 points in the team’s win. Junior forward Jordan Greenleaf led the team in rebounds with nine. Even though the Trojans’ largest lead was only
two early in the second half, the team kept the score close. Troy was led by senior guard Brittnie Davis, who scored 14 points and had six rebounds. Murphy said he was appreciative of his team’s effort and passion. “We overcame a lot of things such as injuries, foul trouble and kids that have never played before,” Murphy said. “You take away something from every game, pro and con, and we’ve got a lot of pros to look at.” Both teams hit less than 40 percent from the field. Auburn only connected on close to 16 percent of its three-point attempts.
Rod Guajardo / PHOTO EDITOR
Soccer players celebrate a goal early in the season.
Soccer team falls in first NCAA round By NICK VAN DER LINDEN Associate Sports Editor
The Auburn Tigers Women’s Soccer team (10-9-3) reached its goal of making it to the NCAA Tournament, but its season came to an end Friday night with a 2-1 overtime loss to the University of California at Berkeley Golden Bears (11-8-1) at the Seminole Soccer Complex on Florida State University’s campus. “It was one of those heartbreaking losses,” said head coach Karen Hoppa. “I don’t think the shots or the score indicate how the match went. We played very hard, but came up short in the end, but that’s how things are sometimes.” The Tigers were down 1-0 at the half when California junior forward Alex Morgan scored from 17 yards out, hitting the inside left post. The shot was Cal’s eighth shot of the match and the fifth from Morgan, three of which were on goal. Morgan took six of Cal’s nine first half shots and finished with 10 shots for the game. “We started off a little slow, maybe we were just a little bit nervous because it was the NCAA tournament,” Hoppa said. “We came together, I told them to relax and we played great after that.” The Tigers came out and took control of the second half. Freshman forward Mary Coffed took the ball deep into Cal territory, shot and
forced a deflection and Auburn’s sixth corner of the match. Sophomore forward Heather Havron took the corner and bent it in from the right to tie the game 1-1 in the 59th minute. The Tigers scored again and seemingly took a 2-1 lead in the 85th minute when sophomore midfielder Katy Frierson sent a corner into the box which was headed in, but a foul was called on Auburn, keeping the match tied. “Heather’s got a great corner,” Frierson said after Friday’s game. “She is so consistent on them and she just did what she usually does and it went in for us. It was a great goal.” In overtime, Auburn had a tough time keeping up with Cal. The Golden Bears outshot the Tigers 6-0 in overtime and 22-12 in the game. California junior forward Lisa Kevorkian finished off a cross from forward Alex Morgan to win the game and send them to the next round of the tournament. “Cal stepped it up in overtime,” Hoppa said. “They have one of the best forwards in the country, and she made a great run and found a player wide open at the goal.” Auburn finished the game with 12 shots on goal and nine corners. They will hit the practice fields again early next year. “It was a great honor to play in the NCAA tournament and we’re going to continue to work hard as a team and make sure we make it further than we did this year,” Havron said.
Auburn looks for another win tonight as Texas A&M travels to Beard– Eaves Memorial Coliseum. The Aggies will come to Auburn ranked No. 16 in the USA Today poll. The Aggies are also coming off a huge win, knocking sixth ranked Duke at home, 95-77. Fortner said her team still has a long way to go to reach its potential and is far from being the team it needs to be when conference season arrives. “The kids have to grow up and learn how to play at this level and come to play every night,” Fortner said. “We’ve got a young team, and it’s just going to take us a while.”
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Blakeley Sisk / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
Junior guard Alli Smalley shoots the ball over two Troy defenders. The Tigers beat the Trojans 70-65 last Friday night.
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