AUBURN, Ala. – The UMass Lowell women's soccer team (2-4-1, 0-0-0 AE) fell to the #14 Auburn Tigers (4-0-3, 0-0-0 SEC) by a score of 4-1 on Thursday night at the Auburn Soccer Complex.
 
Sophomore Ioanna Papatheodorou (Nea Erithraia, Greece) scored the lone goal for the River Hawks, her fifth of the season. She also led the team with three shots in the game. Senior Anna Edson (Beverly, Mass.) tallied an assist on the Papatheodorou goal, her first point of the season. Freshman Bára Beránková (Hradec Králové, Czech Republic) made her first career start in goal and made six saves.
 
"Obviously a long day with the weather delay and being inside for two hours, so we got off to a bit of a slow start, but I am proud of this team and how they battled," said head coach Mira Novak. "Two of their goals in the first half were set pieces we didn't deal with, so we will need to work on that. But we played a good team tonight; they haven't been scored on at home or dropped points here. We wanted to test them defensively and get something out of the game and we did that with the goal from Ioanna."
 
Following a two-hour weather delay, the Tigers got off to a quick start, opening the scoring just eight minutes into the half. Sydney Richards' right footed shot found the top corner to give the hosts the early advantage. Following the restart, the Tigers pressed and held much of the possession. In the 11^th minute, Grace Sklopan doubled the lead with right-footed effort that found the bottom left corner of the goal for a 2-0 lead.
 
Auburn continued to control the pace of the play and created several chances on net. In the 44^th minute, just after a corner kick, Maddie Simpson score to make it 3-0 Tigers. Auburn outshot the River Hawks 14-0 with a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal in the first half and dominated possession. The River Hawks looked to find a spark in the second half.
 
Out of the break, the hosts picked up where they left off and put the River Hawks under immediate pressure. Auburn tallied its first shot of the half in the 47^th minute and added a fourth goal a minute later. Just a minute after the Tigers took a 4-0 lead, Ioanna Papatheodorou scored her fifth of the season, a right-footed shot that found that bottom left corner, to make a three-goal game.
 
After the sophomore's goal, the teams exchanged opportunities in a more even final 25 minutes of the game. The River Hawks created chances on goal, tallying five shots in the second half. Neither side found the back of the net in the final minutes of the game and the Tigers came away with a 4-1 victory.
 
"We knew coming here that the chances we created would be scarce, so we had to take advantage," added Novak. "I'm happy with a lot of individual performances tonight and happy to see how we progressed from this test against a very strong program in Auburn."
 
The River Hawks return to action on Sunday, September 11 when they take on the Hartford Hawks. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. in West Hartford.