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Auburn soccer ‘super motivated’ for 2021 season

By JAKE WEESE

Sports Editor

After finishing 2020 with a 10-5-3 record which included a five-game winning streak to end the spring portion of the season, Auburn soccer is looking to build on that success in 2021.

This season, the Tigers return 10 of their 12 starters, including fifth-year Alyssa Malonson. Malonson used her extra year of eligibility given to all fall athletes because of the disruptions caused by COVID-19 to come back for one last season.

Malonson was always planning to use her extra eligibility, but the original goal was to use it to help her get ready for the pros.

The Houston, Texas, native who did not even register for the 2021 National Women’s Soccer League Draft achieved her goal of wanting to play professionally a year early as she was drafted by the North Carolina Courage last spring.

Instead of going pro, however, Malonson still decided to come back.

Since arriving on The Plains in 2017, Malonson has started in every game for the Tigers. Her resume at Auburn includes 37 career wins, two NCAA Tournament appearances and two All-SEC selections.

Despite all these accomplishments, Malonson has some unfinished business left at Auburn.

“So like the one thing that I want not only for me but for Auburn as well is a ring,” Malonson said. “And I feel like, with this team, that goal can be achieved.”

Even with 10 of their 12 starters returning, the Tigers are a mostly young team. 19 of the 33 players on the roster are underclassmen and despite them playing a lot of minutes last season, Auburn did not play a normal schedule.

Each SEC school only played one game a week in 2020 and they also played conference games first in the fall and then nonconference in the spring. 2021 will see SEC schools return to a normal schedule with mutliple games a week and the entire season will be played in the fall instead of splitting the season up between the fall and spring.

Head coach Karen Hoppa knows her team is motivated to continue its momentum from last season, even if it wasn’t a normal schedule.

“The team as a whole is super motivated,” Hoppa said. “I think everybody was a little frustrated where we ended in the conference because obviously once we played those nonconference games in the spring, we played our best soccer at the end of the year. So I think they are hungry from a conference standpoint and from an NCAA Tournament standpoint because everyone felt we should’ve been in, and we didn’t get in. So, I think there’s already that hunger, and then when you look at our senior class, and you’ve got somebody like Alyssa who’s sacrificed a year of pros to come back, I think it will certainly be a big motivation for the girls.”

IAN LOGUE | PHOTOGRAPHER

Alyssa Malonson against Memphis in Auburn, Ala. on Aug. 10, 2021.