Alabama
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Mississippi State
Alabama Soccer Hosts Mississippi State for Senior Day
10/13/2017 11:16:00 AM | Soccer
The Tide will face the Bulldogs on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 5 p.m. CT
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama women's soccer continues its conference slate at home against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 5 p.m. CT at the Alabama Soccer Complex. Sunday's match will be the Power of Pink match and the Tide's six seniors will be honored before kickoff.
FOLLOW THE TIDE ONLINE
Live Stats: Sunday - rolltide.com
Radio: Sunday - WVUA-FM Sports
Watch: Sunday - SEC Network +
Twitter: @Alabama Soccer
MATCH RECAP
Alabama (8-6-1, 0-5-1 SEC) dropped its fourth top-25 match on Oct. 5, falling to No. 19 Texas A&M, 2-0, at Ellis Field in College Station, Texas, and fell to Auburn, 4-2, on Oct. 10 in the Iron Bowl of Soccer.
After a slow start opened the match, Texas A&M netted a goal in the 30th minute and extended its lead by two in the final minutes of the conference showdown to pick up its fifth-straight win. Freshmen Nicole Lyubenko and Taylor Morgan led the Alabama offense with two shots apiece and senior goalkeeper Kat Stratton recorded one save in 90:00 minutes in the net.
On Tuesday, Junior Abbie Boswell led the Crimson Tide's offensive attack netting a season-high of two goals on seven shot attempts, and redshirt freshman Chloe Maize turned in a career-high night, launching five shots with one on goal. The Tigers headed into halftime with the 1-0 advantage and extended its lead by two less than ten minutes into the second stanza. Then, Boswell netted a penalty kick to put the Tide within one, but Auburn scored again in the 71st minute. 20 second later, Boswell connected again to rally the Tide back into the match, but Auburn netted its fourth goal of the match in the 79th minute to solidify the win.
2017 SEC PLAY
Despite scoring multiple goals during the non-conference slate, Alabama has only scored three goals against SEC opponents so far and has suffered four shutout losses to top-25 opponents South Carolina (3), Florida (6), Tennessee (25) and Texas A&M (19).
The Tide's first goal was scored in a draw against LSU off the head of junior Christina Maartensson, her first of the season. Alabama's second and third goals were both tallied by junior Abbie Boswell in the 2-4 loss to the Auburn Tigers.
Overall, the Tide has been outscored, 13-3, but has put up a whopping 105 shots, which ranks second in the conference, including a season-high of 44 against LSU. Goalkeeper Kat Stratton has registered 17 saves in 560:00 minutes.
NON-CONFERENCE CAMPAIGN
Alabama wrapped up its 2017 non-conference tilt 8-1, which is the best non-conference performance in school history since 2002 when the Tide went 9-1.
The Tide outscored its opponents 20-8, outshot its non-conference foes 169-78 and put 76 shots on frame to their opponents' 35.
Goalkeeper Kat Stratton and the Alabama defense silenced four teams with a total of seven goals and held its opponents to 0.89 goals per game.
Alabama recorded its best non-conference match in the season opener against Jacksonville State where the Tide topped the Gamecocks, 5-1. Senior Chatham DeProspo led the Tide in scoring with two goals, while juniors Kayla Mouton and Emma Welch along with freshman Nicole Lyubenko all contributed one score apiece. The Tide put up 16 shots in the second half on the way to its four goals and eventually finished the night with 34 shots to the Gamecocks' five. Stratton made three saves in the effort.
ALABAMA BY THE NUMBERS
Alabama has held an edge over its opponents scoring four more goals than their contenders (23-19) while launching 128 more shots (274-146) and putting 47 more shots on goal (112-65) than their foes. The Tide averages 1.53 goals per game and 18.3 shots per game.
In 1373:30 minutes of play, goalkeeper Kat Stratton has turned in a 1.24 goals against average and has registered 45 saves and four shutouts.
FRESHMEN TAKING THE LEAD
The Tide freshmen have made huge impacts on the team, scoring seven of Alabama's 23 goals, and seven freshmen have earned at least one start. Taylor Morgan ranks second on the team in goals (3) and in shots (36), while Casey Wertz leads the team in shots on goal (19) and boasts the best shots on goal percentage after 15 games (.633).
IN THE SEC
The Tide leads the conference in shots (274) and rounds out the top 10 in corners (t-2nd), points (7th), saves (7th), goals (t-7th), assists (t-7th), assists per game (9th) and goals per game (t-10th). Furthermore, Alabama's 44-shot performance against LSU is a conference team-high, beating out Arkansas' 43 shots against Mississippi Valley State (Sept. 3).
Individually, junior Emma Welch is tied for sixth in assists (6) and is tied for eighth in assists per game (0.43). Goalkeeper Kat Stratton leads the conference in goalie minutes played (1373:30), is tied for fifth in saves (45) and is tied for seventh in shutouts (4).
IN THE RANKINGS
Alabama was ranked in several national polls for four-straight weeks after its victory over Florida State on Aug. 27. The Tide first appeared on Soccer America's top-25 list at No. 24 on Aug. 29 and received its highest ranking on the Soccer America list on Sept. 12 after topping Kennesaw Tech and Tennessee Tech (No. 19). Alabama also received votes on TopDrawerSoccer.com's top-25 rankings and NSCAA's top-25 poll during the same time frame.
In the fourth NCAA Ratings Percentage Index of the year, the Tide moved up three spots to No. 21.
In the region, UA remained at No. 10 on the NSCAA Southeast Region Poll for week eight.
Nationally, Alabama ranks inside the top 100 in six categories including shots per game (16th), corner kicks per game (25th), shots on goal per game (48th), goals (77th), points (84th) and assists (86th).
Individually, Kat Stratton ranks 15th in the country in goalie minutes played (1283:30) and sits 93rd in shutouts (4), while Emma Welch is ranked 37th in the nation in total assist (6) and 81st in assists per game (0.40).
UNDER HEAD COACH WES HART
The Crimson Tide is in its third year under the guidance of Wes Hart. In 2016, Hart implemented drastic improvements, nearly doubling the previous year's win total, and registered his first winning season at the Capstone with a 9-8-2 record. Alabama finished ninth in the conference and made its first postseason appearance at the SEC Tournament since 2014. In late September, the Tide shocked then-No. 14 Texas A&M, 2-1, for the first victory over a ranked SEC opponent since 2014 and the first win over a top-25 team under Hart.
Hart's inaugural season had a major focus on transition and the future of the program. Highlights from his first year included Hart's first win as a head coach that came in the home opener against Troy (Aug. 23, 2015), handing Wake Forest its first shutout of the year (Aug. 28, 2015), giving LSU its first loss of the season (Sept. 11, 2015) in a 3-2 double-overtime, comeback win and a hard-fought double-overtime win at Georgia (Oct. 16, 2016), which marked Hart's first road win.
Home game attendance increased significantly in Hart's two seasons, as the Tide averaged over 719 fans per game in 2015 and 2016 – the largest average since the 2012 season. The Alabama Soccer Complex saw a crowd of 1,575 against Troy (Aug. 23, 2015), the second-highest single-game home attendance in program history.
13 NEWCOMERS
This year's squad showcases a wealth of young talent with Hart's biggest incoming class of 11 newcomers, all freshmen, and returns two redshirt freshmen and four sophomores. The Tide welcomes back 13 upperclassmen featuring six seniors and seven juniors.
UA returns nine regular starters from 2016 including points-leader Abbie Boswell and all-time top-10 goalkeeper Kat Stratton.
SERIES HISTORY – MISSISSIPPI STATE
Sunday's match against Mississippi State marks the 22nd meeting in history between the two squads, and Alabama leads 11-7-3 in the series. In the last meeting, Alabama fell to Mississippi State, 1-0, on Sept. 30, 2016.
MSU enters Sunday's match 7-3-3 and 1-3-2 in conference play, picking up its lone SEC victory over Missouri, 3-1, on Sept. 21.
Brooke McKee tops the Bulldog offense with 13 points while MaKayla Waldner leads the team in goals (6), shots (40) and shots on goal (15).
Mississippi State ended its 2016 campaign 6-12 and finished last in the conference with a 1-10 record. MSU returns 15 letterwinners and welcomes 12 newcomers to 2017.
COMING UP
Alabama will continue its conference slate on the road on Thursday, Oct. 19 at Arkansas at 7 p.m. CT. The Crimson Tide will return to Tuscaloosa for the final home game of the regular season on Sunday, Oct. 22 to face Missouri at 6 p.m. CT at the Alabama Soccer Complex. Both matches will air live on SEC Network +.
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaSoccer on Twitter and Facebook and AlabamaSoccer on Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
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