Crimson Tide Soccer Travels to South Alabama
9/12/2002 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
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The University of Alabama women’s soccer team hits the road for the third straight weekend as the team travels to Mobile for an in-state match-up with the South Alabama Jaguars (3-2).
“Anytime you play an in-state school it’s the biggest game on the schedule,” said Alabama Head Coach Don Staley. “I expect them to rise up to the challenge because they’re playing the state university.”
The two teams have not seen much of each other with their last meeting coming in 1998. Alabama leads the all-time series 3-1 which includes a 5-2 victory in overtime in 1994. The game was played before the ‘sudden-death’ rule was implemented. However, the one time the two teams have played in Mobile, the Jaguars came out on the winning end of a 1-0 victory.
The Tide defense will have to be at the top of its game as they will be facing a South Alabama offense that reeled of 34 goals in their first two matches. However, the Alabama offense is one to be reckoned with as well as the Tide ranks 12th in the country in scoring offense averaging 3.00 goals per match. Senior co-captain Kim Zarzour leads the Alabama offense with nine points on the season (four goals, one assist) ranking her 25th in the country with a 1.00 goal per game average.
Following the match the Tide will return home to host the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. It will the be the third time this season that Alabama has played a home and away match in the same weekend.
“We’ve owed some schools some home matches and this was the year we decided to repay them all,” said Staley. “I think the girls have handled it well so far.”
Revenge will be on the minds of the Tide players as they look to avenge a 2-1 loss at the hands of the Blue Raiders last season, a loss that at the time ended a five-game Alabama winning streak.
“We’ve been looking forward to this match since last year,” said Staley. “I have to give them credit, they took it to us, but I think it was the worst non-conference game we played all year. Our players will show up with their game faces on, while I’m sure Middle Tennessee will be looking to prove that last year was no fluke.”
The series is currently tied at 1-1 with the Tide’s win coming in the 1996 season due to a forfeit on the part of Middle Tennessee.
Friday’s match against South Alabama will begin at 7:00 p.m., while the Crimson Tide-Blue Raider match is scheduled to kick off at 1:00 at the University of Alabama Soccer Complex.
Alabama soccer fans will have an opportunity to meet the players face-to-face on Saturday as the team will be signing autographs on the quad prior to the Alabama-North Texas football game. The autograph signing will start at 4:15 p.m.
