Aggie soccer rounds out home schedule with upset of No. 11 Auburn, 2-1

In the final home game of the 2016 regular season, Texas A&M was set to battle the No.11 Auburn Tigers on Sunday night. The Aggies were hopeful for a win but competing against a highly-ranked team only guaranteed one thing: an extremely hard-fought game.

Texas A&M certainly brought their best fight yet on Sunday, walking away with a 2-1 victory over Auburn. The win brings the Aggies' record to 9-7-1.

"Today's performance and today's fight and today's result clearly gives us a nice bounce in our step," Coach G. Guerrieri said. ""This gives us a nice bounce from a rough run ... We're in the (SEC) tournament now."

Both teams were playing a slow-paced game, trading possession in the midfield during the first half. But when the teams returned for the second half, they came to life.

In the 55th minute of play, Kendall Ritchie lined up to take a free-kick from midfield and launched the ball nine yards from the Tigers' goal. The perfectly placed kick allowed Grace Piper to get a head on the ball, sending it past the Auburn goal keeper and into the upper left corner of the net. The goal was Piper's fourth of the season.

The Aggie lead was short-lived.

As the Tigers made a break down the field, they were fouled 20 yards away from the Texas A&M goal and were awarded a dangerously close free kick. The free kick – taken by Auburn's Brooke Ramsier – ricocheted off of a player in front of the goal and slid into the right corner of the net just past goal keeper Danielle Rice.

Although both teams continued to lay on the pressure during the remainder of the second half, it seemed as if the game was destined to go into overtime.

However, the Aggies experienced a stroke of luck in the final minutes of the game.

With only seven minutes remaining in the game, forward Emily Bates was taken down inside the penalty box by an Auburn defender. Texas A&M was then awarded a penalty kick that gave them the opportunity to pull ahead for the second time.

Forward Haley Pounds lined up to take the penalty kick, and in one swift movement she ripped the ball into the lower left corner of the net. The goal was Pounds' seventh of the season.

For the final six minutes of playing time, The Aggies gave everything they had to keep the Tigers' away from the their goal. Showing pure desire and fight, Texas A&M upset Auburn and clinched the victory.

"I think that was probably the strongest second half we've had all season," Ritchie said. "After they scored, it refocused us. Our goal was to beat Auburn, and we accomplished that goal."

The Tigers took 25 shots compared to Texas A&M's nine shots over the course of the night. The stark difference there is a testament to how strong the Aggies were defensively.

Potentially the most impressive player of the night was Rice, who kept Auburn's electric and relentless offense at bay.

"Dani Rice, again, her last game at Ellis Field proves to be pretty special," Guerrieri said.

The impressive upset is just what Texas A&M needed to boost their confidence going into the final game of the regular season and into the postseason.

"This past weekend speaks volumes for our team. We weren't going to just give up even though we were kind of on a losing streak," Pounds said.

"I think this gives us a ton of momentum going into the most important part of the year, which is SEC tournament and NCAA tournament. I think we're on a winning streak and hopefully we can keep it up."

The Aggies will round off their regular season on Thursday against Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi at 7pm where they hope to improve to a three-game winning streak.