AUBURN, Ala. - Georgia Southern's first action of the 2022 campaign started Monday but ended Tuesday as the Eagles dropped a 2-1 decision at Auburn.

The two teams were scheduled to play three 30-minute periods on Monday evening, but only made it through one of the period before lightning halted play. After an hour and a half-long delay, it was determined that the two teams would return to the field on Tuesday to replay the exhibition at 11 a.m.

The teams played two 35-minute periods on Tuesday morning. Auburn tallied a goal just 24 seconds into the second period, coming from Sabrina McNeill. Georgia Southern notched its first goal of the exhibition in the 28th minute of the period when redshirt freshman Ellie McIntyre converted a penalty kick, and the second period ended up tied 1-1. Auburn had a 5-2 edge in shots in the period.

In the final period of the exhibition, Auburn notched a goal in the eighth minute of the frame for the final 2-1 margin.

"To be quite honest, last night I thought the moment was a little too big," Georgia Southern Head Women's Soccer Coach Chris Adams said. "We didn't perform very well, and Auburn is obviously a very good team. But we were shell shocked a little bit. The biggest difference today was that we battled and competed. We continued to grow as the game went on more and more, and we were competitive until the final whistle. When you stretch yourselves to go up against a P5 school, you want to be competitive. We were much better today than we were yesterday, which is a good sign of this team's character."

Georgia Southern will play one more exhibition contest, coming this Saturday at 2 p.m. against Charleston Southern in Statesboro, before opening the regular season on Thursday, August 18 at another SEC foe, the University of Georgia, in Athens.