Sept. 2, 2004

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- - In front of an all-time record crowd of 1,056 fans at Bulldog Field on Thursday, the Samford University soccer team was defeated by the 20th-ranked Auburn Tigers, 3-0, in a non-conference intra-state matchup.

"Our girls came out and played hard the entire time," said Samford assistant coach Brian Copham, who filled in Thursday for head coach Todd Yelton while he recovers from back surgery. "Unfortunately, we gave up a goal early in the first half and Auburn is the kind of team that will take advantage of your mistakes."

Samford (0-3) fell behind early in the contest for a third-consecutive match as Auburn's Christie Cigno earned the eventual game-winning goal at 9:56 into the contest. On the score, the Tigers' Ronda Brooks and Jenny Zarzour were credited with assists.

Auburn (3-0) remained undefeated on the 2004 campaign and registered its third-straight victory over a team that was ranked among the top-15 teams in the Southeast Region by Soccer Buzz Magazine.

The Tigers entered Thursday's matchup with a 2-0 record after defeating Furman, 3-0, and UAB, 3-1, last week. Furman began the season as the 10th-ranked team in the Southeast Region, while UAB and Samford placed eighth and 12th, respectively.

"Auburn is a high-caliber team and I think that we played competitively with them for 90 minutes," said Copham. "They are the 20th-ranked team in the country and we played them pretty tough. This was a great opportunity for us to compete against one of the top teams in the nation in order to get prepared for OVC (Ohio Valley Conference) play."

Samford tallied four shots against Auburn on Thursday with two of them coming from freshman midfielder Heather Birdsell. The Bulldogs' Marian Wagner and Sharon Young recorded the remaining two scoring attempts. In the match, Auburn outshot Samford, 16-4.

After allowing Auburn's first goal in the 10th minute of play, the Samford defense settled down and held the Tigers scoreless for the remaining portion of the first half. Auburn totaled five shot attempts during the first period of play and then rattled off 11 in the second half.

Crystal Royall, Samford's senior goalkeeper from Richmond, Va., turned in the defensive play of the match on Thursday as she made a headlong diving stop on a point-blank scoring attempt by Auburn's Sarah Steinmann.

After a Samford player slipped on defense, Steinmann found her self wide open for a shot, but Royall made a tremendous diving stop to her left to make the play. Her block stymied Auburn's first attempt at the goal, unfortunately the Tigers' Sara Power gathered the deflection and scored on the putback. The goal occurred at 66:45 in the contest.

"Our main goal right now as team is to just continue to get better," Copham said. "I believe that we played better tonight and we will continue to improve from this match. We also have the best fans in the world. They come out here to support us no matter what the situation and we definitely support everything that they do for us."

Samford's attendance of 1,056 on Thursday night was a school record for matches held at Bulldog Field. The mark narrowly topped last season's then-record crowd of 1,038 for the OVC semifinal-round contest versus Southeast Missouri. The Bulldogs won the matchup in a penalty-kick shootout, 4-1.

The Samford University soccer team will next be in action on Tuesday, Sept. 7, as the Bulldogs remain at home to face the Wofford Terriers in a non-conference matchup beginning at 7 p.m. Admission is free to all Samford home soccer matches.

#20 Auburn (3-0) def. Samford (0-3), 3-0

AU 1 2 - 3

SAM 0 0 - 0

Scoring: AU, Christie Cigno (1) 9:56 (assists Jenny Zarzour and Ronda Brooks), Sara Power (1) 66:45 (assist Sarah Steinmann), Jenn Walters (1) 85:31 (penalty kick).

Saves: SAM, Crystal Royall 3; AU, Megan Rivera 0.

Yellow Cards: SAM, Team 33:44.