ATHENS, Ga. (EETV) - Six teams are battling for a shot into the SEC Tournament.
Auburn is looking for a way in and to not miss out for the second year in a row.
No. 16 Georgia is wanting to host.
In the high-stakes regular season finale, Prohaska and the Auburn defense hold the SEC East Champions Georgia 0-0 to send them to the SEC Tournament.
Both teams had to wait for the rest of the SEC to finish their last regular season games to know if they got their wish, and the Tigers got theirs thanks to a draw between South Carolina and Florida.
"Great effort from our squad," Tigers head coach Karen Hoppa said. "I thought Georgia looked as good as I've ever seen them. It was a testament to our effort and determination to be able to shutout a team like that. Now, we wait on the rest of the results and hope we've done enough to go to the beach."
Senior goalie Maddie Prohaska totaled four saves against the attacking Bulldog offense, diving for three and stretching the top left corner for her fourth.
Prohaska now has over 250 career saves and is up to 25 career shutouts.
"Every single person, from the front to the back, made a difference in our defense tonight," Prohaska said. "We had some big defensive plays from our back four. I'm really proud of them."
Though Georgia maintained possession most of the game and took 14 shots and 10 corners, the Tigers’ backline proved to be the star of the game, keeping the strikers out of the box, shutting down the middle passes or through balls and clearing or blocking numerous shots from the Bulldogs.
Defenders Jessica Osborne, Erin Houston, Sydnie Thibodaux and Olivia Candelino each stopped a potential Georgia goal, and junior LJ Knox blocked two.
"We played our tails off tonight, and I couldn't be more proud," Knox said. "We've grown together all season long, and this was a product of everything we've learned along the way. We hope there's more to come from this team this season."
The defense did more than hold Georgia to zero goals.
Osborne also headed the ball off of a free kick, like she did earlier this week against LSU, But the Tigers were called offsides, removing their goal.
Georgia faced a similar issue to Auburn when trying to score. In the 75th minute, where the Bulldogs thought they had the game-winning goal, but it was also taken back due to offsides.
The Tigers had a few other scoring opportunities, having five shots and one shot on goal from Marissa Arias.
Anna Haddock, Becky Contreras and Olivia Woodson also each had one shot, but all fell shy of being on frame.
The 2024 SEC Soccer Tournament is set for Oct. 29 – Nov. 5 at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex in Pensacola, Florida.
