Crimson Tide Soccer Travels for First SEC Weekend
10/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
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The road has become a familiar place for the University of Alabama soccer team, however this time the stakes have been raised as the Tide heads to Gainesville, Florida and Columbia, SC for its first weekend of action in Southeastern Conference play.
“I’m anxious to find out how we stack up in the SEC and what better way than to face the top team in the conference,” said Alabama Head Coach Don Staley. “Florida will come at us with speed and a great deal of experience as they have played solely against upper level competition up to this point in the season.”
The Tide will look to duplicate the conference opening success it experienced last season when the Tide upset a highly-touted Georgia squad 4-1 in Athens. However, this year Bama faces a team it has never defeated and has not scored a goal on since the 1998 season.
Bama came the closest it ever has to defeating the Gators last season not allowing them to score a goal, however two own goals by the Tide resulted in a final 2-0 loss.
Alabama comes into the match on the heels of a three-game winning streak while the No. 8 ranked Gators are coming in off a loss to Utah last weekend.
Following the trip to Gainesville, Bama will head north to Columbia where they will do battle with the South Carolina Gamecocks Sunday afternoon.
The Gamecocks are another team the Crimson Tide has had recent troubles with, having not defeated USC since the 1997 season.
South Carolina, which brings a regional ranking of ninth into the match, comes into the weekend on a six-match unbeaten streak; however that streak could be in jeopardy Friday night when they host the Auburn Tigers.
Offensively, the Tide is led by senior Dawn Nash and sophomore Libby Probst who are both tied for the team lead with 16 points. Probst leads the team with seven goals while Nash is the team leader in assists with four.
The Tide and the Gators are scheduled to kick-off at 6:00 p.m. (CT) while Sunday’s kick-off in Columbia is scheduled for 12:00 (CT).
