Tennessee soccer takes to the road for its final away game of the season against Auburn on Thursday night.
The game is the last non-SEC East game for the Lady Vols before they take on third place South Carolina and second place Vanderbilt at Rocky Top. The home stand will ultimately decide who will win the SEC East title and ensures a first-round bye when the SEC tournament begins later this month.
The Lady Vols are currently first in the SEC East on 12 points after winning all of their divisional games. No. 21 South Carolina, who sits on nine points, missed its opportunity to go equal on points with Tennessee after a 2-1 loss to Vanderbilt on Friday night. With the win, Vanderbilt jumped into second place on 10 points. With the Commodores playing Florida Thursday night, they have a chance to climb into first with one divisional game remaining.
Tennessee is coming off a disappointing 0-0 draw at home against LSU last Friday night. It was a dominant showing by the Lady Vols, but they were unable to convert with LSU continually frustrating Tennessee throughout the 90 minutes.
Tennessee managed to keep another clean sheet, which was the team’s fourth in a row. However, it was the first time since the opening game against No. 2 North Carolina that the Lady Vols have been kept scoreless.
“Not disappointed, but not satisfied with that result,” Tennessee head coach Joe Kirt said. “Obviously played really well all things considered, just weren’t good enough in the box. LSU defended really well with a ton of numbers back. We had a few chances but didn’t take them.”
Auburn fell to a late Texas A&M comeback last Friday night with the side conceding twice in the final three minutes. They suffered a 3-1 defeat. Striker Maddie Simpson scored Auburn’s only goal of the night in the 31st minute. The Aggies equalised early in the second half but left it too late to grab the winner in the 88th minute. They ensured all three points with another goal with nine seconds remaining.
Auburn is currently sitting on three points in the SEC West with only one win from its four division games. The loss leaves the Tigers with a tough challenge ahead of them. The side now needs to win their final two SEC West games against LSU in Baton Rouge and No. 3 Alabama to have a chance of qualifying for the 9th consecutive SEC tournament.
“I think it’s a huge game for Auburn. It’s definitely a playoff game for them in a lot of ways,” Kirt said. “Obviously, it’s not an (SEC) East game, but it’s still a big game for us. It certainly sets us up for the two games at home to finish the season. Auburn is a tough place to play, and it’s going to be difficult.”
Tennessee does not have the best record against Auburn with the Lady Vols only winning one of the last nine meetings. The Lady Vols did win last season’s meeting 2-1 in a dramatic fashion when Redshirt junior Brooke Wilson scored the winning goal in the 101st minute after Jordan Fusco equalised late on to take the game into overtime. Tennessee, however, has not won at Auburn in over a decade.
“I think we’re playing really well. We’ve certainly come into our own in terms of our identity of how we’re going to approach the game,” Kirt said. “But always looking for ways we can be a little bit better in different areas.”
The match will take place at the Auburn Soccer Complex with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m ET and streaming on SEC+.
