'Frustrating' for Lady Vols; UT drops to 7th in SEC soccer

This wasn't the senior night Mick Imgram was expecting.

With a three-goal second-half surge, Auburn defeated the Tennessee women's soccer team 3-1 at Regal Stadium on Thursday night.

Tennessee (7-7-3, 3-4-2 SEC) finds itself closer to the edge of not making the SEC tournament. The win helped the Tigers (7-7-3, 4-5) jump the Lady Vols, leaving Tennessee seventh, with only the top eight teams securing a spot in the conference tournament.

"This was frustrating," Imgram said. "We just weren't doing the small things, losing our marks and not tracking people in the box."

Tennessee has two games to go, road contests against Alabama and Georgia.

"This could have been avoided very easily," Lady Vols coach Angela Kelly said. "It's a case of having to get it done and a question of who will step up and see that every opportunity could be the last."

Imgram made the most of her final appearance on the Tennessee stage in the first half. At the 10 minute mark, Imgram curved a vicious corner kick into the left corner of the goal to put the Lady Vols up 1-0.

"Coach (Kelly) wanted us to challenge her (Auburn's Amy Howard) anytime we were anywhere near her," Imgram said. "She didn't get enough of a hand on it and it went in."

It was Imgram's SEC-leading 11th goal of the season. Imgram recently became just the fourth Tennessee player to score more than 20 goals and record 20 assists in a career.

"It's very emotional," Imgram said. "I'm happy with it (leading the conference), but we really need to step up our game. We have to come out with enough fire under us. We have to be able to make the tournament."

Imgram attempted to work her magic again in the second half, arcing a beautiful ball over the heads of every Auburn defender, only to see it snatched by Howard.

The Lady Vols had a chance to go up 2-0 when Emily Dowd had a shot at a wide-open goal after Auburn's Howard fell to the ground. Instead, the ball sailed wide left.

Auburn looked lost for most of the first half, at one point settling for desperation kicks into Tennessee territory just to get anything near the goal. The second half brought a complete change. After going without a shot for the final 15 minutes of the first half, Auburn scored two goals in the first nine minutes of the second.

"We were a young team that got complacent," Kelly said. "We had ample opportunities to put a team away. With an open goal and unforced errors, we have to be better."

The first Auburn goal came in the 45th minute with Chelsea Yauch taking an assist from Mary Coffed and weaving her way through the Tennessee defense. With a one-on-one matchup with Tennessee goalie Molly Baird, Yauch booted the ball into the goal.

Rebecca Howell gave Auburn the lead at the 54th minute with an assist from Caitlin King.

King served up a second assist to Julie King to help the Tigers to a 2-goal lead with 30 minutes to go in the game.

Adam Greene is a freelance contributor.