Soccer Ready for Weekend Slate in Birmingham
9/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
TUSCALOOSA ?? The Alabama soccer team (2-2-0) will look to build on last weekend’s tournament championship and two-game winning streak as it takes on Kansas and UAB this weekend at the UAB Nike Classic in Birmingham.
The Crimson Tide will battle Kansas Friday at 5 p.m. and host UAB Sunday at 2 p.m. Both games will be played at UAB’s West Campus Field.
“Last week was a momentum builder for us,” Alabama head coach Don Staley said. “Because of our success last week, we come into this week with a little more confidence, but we know that we still have to take it game-by-game and continue to figure out what our team identity is.”
Alabama rolled last weekend to a pair of victories and outscored its opponents 6-0 in the two wins. Not only did the Tide’s offense finally get going, but the defense showed dramatic improvement in shutting out regionally-ranked Memphis and Arkansas State.
Four UA players earned All-Tournament honors, including junior defender Hayley MacDonald, who garnered Tournament MVP honors. Sophomore goalkeeper Kara Gudmens was solid in the nets as she recorded a pair of shutouts and moved into sixth place all-time at Alabama in career saves with 88. Jordan O’Banion and Jessie Deegan also represented Alabama on the All-Tournament team.
“There is no doubt that I’m pleased from a defensive perspective with our performance last week,” Alabama head coach Don Staley said. “I thought the tandem of Hayley MacDonald and Emily Pitek did a heck of a job marking the C-USA Player of the Year. But as a whole we really started to buy in on what the coaches talked about during the week and on the principles of quality defending.”
This weekend Alabama has an opportunity to get back in the national spotlight. Kansas (2-1-0) is ranked No. 14 in the latest Soccer Buzz regional rankings while UAB (0-3-0), who started the season at No. 13, has fallen out of the polls after dropping its first three contests of the season.
Alabama’s meeting with Kansas Friday night will be the first meeting between the two schools.
“Kansas is an elite program and will give us a handful with their skill players and could cause some problems for us with their size,” Staley said. “For us to be successful we have to stick to our game plan and not get away from who we are.”
Sunday’s match-up with UAB will be the ninth time the Tide and Blazers have met on the soccer field. UAB won a 3-2 battle last season in Tuscaloosa when Jenny Meyer broke a tie in the 61st minute of play. UAB returns five starters from a team that went 8-10-1 in 2005.
“UAB has had our number the last few years and we want to do something about that,” Staley said. “UAB could pose some possible complications for us based on speed. We just have to play a smarter game if we get in that situation. The upcoming weekend will help prepare us for the type of environment that we’ll see game-in and game-out in the SEC.”
