AHS girls soccer advances to championship game

By OANow Staff

Published: May 10, 2008

HUNTSVILLE — It’s finally gone.

“It’s all done,” said the Auburn High head girls soccer coach Mac Matthews. “We don’t have to worry about that monkey anymore.”

In their fifth consecutive trip to the Class 6A Final Four, the Tigers (15-5-3) finally won a semifinal match to advance to the team’s first-ever state championship final, beating Enterprise, 2-0, Friday night at John Hunt Park.

Betsy Pudner scored both goals for Auburn in the win, with assists coming from Liz Allen and Jenna Strother.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Pudner, a sophomore forward, said. “Enterprise is a great team. We’ve been working all year. This is what we’ve been working for all year, non-stop.”

The Wildcats, who lost their first game of the season, closed within 2-1 in the 62nd minute on Lydia Townsend’s goal, assisted by Kirstyn Cline.

But Auburn goalie Kristin Boydston kept Enterprise off the board the rest of the way, finishing with three saves.

“This was a great, great, great win,” Matthews said. “It was just one of those games we finished a couple of early chances. We had some more late, but nerves kind of got to us.”

It will be a quick turnaround for the Tigers as they now have to play Mountain Brook in the state title game at 11 a.m. today — just 16 hours after their semifinal game ended.

Auburn will have a little bit of an advantage in the final, however, as Mountain Brook had to play an extra two periods of overtime in its win. Mountain Brook beat Spain Park, 4-3, in a shootout Friday night.

“It’s a level playing field for everybody,” Matthews said about the quick turnaround time between games. “Nobody’s going to be at 100 percent. This
is where your bench helps a lot.

“It doesn’t hurt that they played some extra minutes (Friday night).”

Auburn played Mountain Brook once already this season, with the game finishing in a 2-all tie.

“They are a very good team,” Matthews said. “They are one of the best teams I’ve ever seen play.”

According to Matthews, just getting past the semifinal match for the first time in five years wasn’t the ultimate goal.

“We’re not satisfied with just winning (Friday night),” he said. “Like I told the girls after the game, ‘We’re not done yet.’”

The Huntsville Times contributed to this report.