Alabama
Missouri
Alabama Soccer Faces Missouri in First Round of SEC Tournament
10/28/2017 12:48:00 PM | Soccer
The Tide will battle against the Tigers on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. CT
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama women's soccer will makes its second straight appearance at the 2017 SEC Tournament on Sunday, Oct. 29 in Orange Beach, Ala as the seventh seed. The Crimson Tide will face the tenth-seed Missouri Tigers at 1 p.m. CT. Sunday's match will be broadcasted live on SEC Network.
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MATCH RECAP
Alabama (12-6-1, 4-5-1 SEC) picked up its fourth consecutive conference win on Thursday after shutting out the Mississippi Rebels, 1-0, in Oxford, Miss. in double overtime. In the 106th minute, Alabama drew a foul and senior Hailey Brohaugh netted the game-winner on a penalty kick to put the Tide on top.
Thursday's win snapped a six-game losing streak to the Rebels and marked the first victory in Oxford since Alabama shut out Ole Miss, 3-0, in 1997. Furthermore, the Tide's four-game win streak over conference opponents is the first such streak in program history since 1998, while Alabama's 12 wins are the most victories recorded in a single season since 2002.
The Rebels outshot the Tide, 13-8, in the conference showdown, but the Tide edged the Rebels, 5-4, in shots on goal.
In the first collegiate match of her career, redshirt freshman Alex Plavin started in goal for the Tide and registered four saves and her first conference win at Alabama.
ROAD TO ORANGE BEACH
Alabama earned a berth to the 2017 SEC Tournament after securing the ninth spot in the SEC Standings after defeating Missouri, 3-2, in double overtime in the regular season (Oct. 22).
The Tide started off slowly, falling to four-straight SEC foes after tying with LSU in the second conference game of the season (Sept. 21), but Alabama finished the season strong with a four-game win streak to put them in the tournament.
After defeating Ole Miss on Thursday, Alabama finished in seventh place and was picked to finish 10th in the 2017 Southeastern Conference women's soccer standings, as voted by the league's 14 head coaches.
THE CRIMSON TIDE IN THE SEC TOURNAMENT
Last season, Alabama fell to Texas A&M, 1-0, in double overtime in the first round of the SEC Tournament. The match marked the first conference tournament game the Tide has appeared in since 2014.
The Tide has made 10 appearance at the SEC Tournament and owns a 3-10 record. Alabama's first victory in the tournament came on Nov. 3, 1995, when the Tide topped Auburn, 1-0. The second win came in 1998, which was Alabama's first year making it to the NCAA Tournament, when UA defeated Tennessee, 1-0 on Nov. 5. The Crimson Tide's last win was over then-No. 19 South Carolina, 1-0, on Nov. 2, 2011, the Tide's second year in the NCAA Tournament.
Alabama has been outscored 13-21 in the tournament and has never made it past the quarterfinal round in its history.
2017 SEC PLAY
Alabama scored 11 goals against SEC opponents during the regular season and suffered four shutout losses to top-25 opponents South Carolina (3), Florida (6), Tennessee (25) and Texas A&M (19).
The Tide capped the regular season with a four-game win streak, which is the longest winning streak against SEC opponents since 1998.
Overall, the Tide has been outscored, 17-11, but has put up a whopping 157 shots, which ranks second in the conference, including a season-high of 44 against LSU (Sept. 21). Goalkeeper Kat Stratton has registered 31 saves in 661:51 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 seven more goals than its contenders (30-23) while launching 119 more shots (326-207) and putting 49 more shots on goal (136-87) than its foes. The Tide averages 1.63 goals per game and 17.2 shots per game.
In 1656:14 minutes of play, goalkeeper Kat Stratton has turned in a 1.25 goals against average and has registered 59 saves and five shutouts.
BOSS-WELL LEADING THE HERD
Similar to last year, junior Abbie Boswell has emerged as the team's top goal scorer with eight on the year, tallying a pair of goals in three games this season against Troy (Sept. 3), Auburn (Oct. 10) and Missouri (Oct. 22).
The Illinois native has played in all 19 games this season and has amassed a team-high of 18 points.
In conference play, Boswell ranks amongst the top players in seven offensive categories including goals (t-4th), game-winning goals (t-4th), goals per game (t-5th), shots (9th), shots per game (9th), points (t-10th) and points per game (t-10th). Furthermore, Boswell is tied with 16 other student-athletes for the most goals scored in a conference game (2).
FRESHMEN TAKING THE LEAD
The Tide freshmen have made huge impacts on the team, scoring nine of Alabama's 30 goals, and seven freshmen have earned at least one start. Taylor Morgan ties for second on the team in goals (3) and ranks second in shots (40), while Casey Wertz sits second in goals (3) along with Morgan, ranks second on the team in shots on goal (21) and boasts the best shots on goal percentage after 19 games (.600).
Brynn Martin has played a crucial role in the Tide's back core, by helping Alabama shutout six of its opponents and keep its foes to 1.21 goals per game. At the midway point of the season, Martin was recognized as one of the top 100 freshman to watch according to Topdrawersoccer.com as the site ranked her at No. 49.
IN THE SEC
The Tide leads the conference in shots (326) and rounds out the top 10 in points (5th), goals (t-5th), assists (7th), assists per game (7th), saves (7th), goals per game (8th) and shutouts. 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 fourth in assists (7) and ranks ninth in assists per game (0.37). Junior Abbie Boswell is tied for 10th in shots (49), ninth in points (18), fourth in goals (8) and 10th in goals per game (0.42). Lastly, goalkeeper Kat Stratton ranks fifth in saves (59), ninth in saves per game (3.28) and is tied for eighth in shutouts (5).
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 sixth NCAA Ratings Percentage Index of the year, the Tide moved up three spots to No. 21.
In the region, UA jumped up two spots to No. 8 on the NSCAA Southeast Region Poll for week 10.
Nationally, Alabama ranks inside the top 100 in nine categories including corner kicks per game (25th), shots per game (26th), goals (57th), shots on goal per game (64th), win-lost-tied percentage (67th), points (69th), assists (83rd), scoring offense (92nd) and points per game (96th).
Individually, Kat Stratton ranks 48th in the country in goalie minutes played (1656:14). Emma Welch ranks 42nd in the nation in total assists (7)), while Celia Jimenez Delgado sits 80th in the same category (6). Lastly, Abbie Boswell ranks 88th in game-winning goals (3) and 94th in total goals (8).
THE TIDE STUNS FLORIDA STATE
The Alabama women's soccer team earned its first win over a Top-10 ranked opponent in program history with a 1-0 shutout victory over No. 6/4 Florida State on Aug. 27 at the Alabama Soccer Complex. Freshman Taylor Morgan scored her second career goal in the 55th minute of the match to propel the Crimson Tide to the crucial win over the Seminoles, and senior goalkeeper Kat Stratton made four saves to earn her first shutout of the season.
The victory marks the first time that Alabama has defeated Florida State in the series between the two programs and is the second win for the Tide over an ACC opponent in school history. It is also the first top-10 victory of the Wes Hart era and the first win over his former school after serving as a Florida State assistant coach before joining the Tide.
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 – MISSOURI
Sunday's match against Missouri marks the sixth meeting in history between the two squads, and Alabama trails 2-3 in the series.
Last time out, the Crimson Tide edged out the Tigers, 3-2, in a double-overtime thriller. Junior Abbie Boswell netted the penalty kick 53 seconds into the extra period to propel Alabama past Mizzou. The victory marked the first time in program history the Tide has topped the Tigers in Tuscaloosa.
Mizzou enters the tournament as the 10th seed with a 3-7 record in SEC play. Sarah Luebbert leads the Tiger offensive with six goals, six assists and 18 points.
COMING UP
If Alabama defeats the Tigers on Sunday, the Tide will face the No. 2 seed, Texas A&M, in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, Oct. 31 at noon CT. Tuesday's match will be broadcasted 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.
