Alabama
LSU
Alabama Soccer Hosts LSU before Traveling to No. 6 Florida
9/20/2017 12:00:00 PM | Soccer
The Tide begins its home conference slate against LSU on Thursday and will play Florida on Sunday in Gainesville
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 24/RV Alabama women's soccer team kicks off its Southeastern Conference home slate on Thursday, Sept. 21 when it faces LSU at 7 p.m. CT at the Alabama Soccer Complex and will travel to Gainesville, Fla. on Sunday, Sept. 24 to battle against No. 6 Florida at James G. Pressly Stadium. Both games will air live on SEC Network +.
FOLLOW THE TIDE ONLINE
Live Stats: Thursday – rolltide.com /Sunday – floridagators.com
Radio: N/A
Watch: Thursday & Sunday – SEC Network +
Twitter: @Alabama Soccer
WEEKEND RECAP
Alabama (8-2, 0-1 SEC) split the weekend, 1-1, falling to South Carolina, 1-0, in its conference opener and silencing Chattanooga, 2-0, in its final non-conference match of the season.
In the match against South Carolina, the first half ended in a deadlock despite Alabama's four shots attempts. Then in the 76th minute, South Carolina tallied the lone goal of the match on a penalty kick to top the Tide, 1-0. Freshman Casey Wertz led the offensive charge for the Tide recording three shots with two on frame, and senior goalkeeper Kat Stratton made two saves in 90:00 minutes.
On Sunday, the Tide shutout its fourth opponent of the season, 2-0, thanks to unassisted goals from seniors Maddy Anzelc and Celia Jimenez Delgado in the 10th and 12th minute respectively. The Crimson Tide defense smothered the Mocs, allowing no shots in the first half and just five total shots in the game, which tied the season-low set on Aug. 18 against Jacksonville State.
NON-CONFERENCE CAMPAIGN
Alabama wrapped up its 2017 non-conference slate 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, netting two goals for Alabama, 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.
SEC OPENERS
After Friday's loss to South Carolina, The Crimson Tide is 11-11-2 in SEC openers and 5-5-1 when those openers are played away from home.
In the Wes Hart era, Alabama holds a 2-1 record in conference openers and has outscored its opponents 8-4.
ALABAMA BY THE NUMBERS
Alabama has dominated its opponents scoring 11 more goals that their contenders (20-9) while launching 90 more shots (177-87) and putting 41 more shots on goal (79-38) than their foes. The Tide averages 2.00 goals per game and 17.7 shots per game.
In 903:30 minutes of play, goalkeeper Kat Stratton has held her opponents to 0.70 goals per game and has registered 30 saves and four shutouts.
FRESHMEN TAKING THE LEAD
The Tide freshmen have made huge impacts on the team, scoring seven of Alabama's 20 goals, and seven freshmen have earned at least one start. Taylor Morgan is tied for the team lead in goals (3) and ranks third in points (7). Casey Wertz leads the team in shots on goal (17) and shots on goal percentage (.739) while tying for second with Morgan in shots (23).
MORGAN EARNS WEEKLY HONORS
After notching the game-winning goal against then-No. 6/4 Florida State on Aug. 27, freshman forward Taylor Morgan was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week and was named to TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week. The honors are the first of Morgan's career and the first for Alabama soccer in 2017.
SCORING CENTER BACK
Junior center back Kayla Mouton played a crucial role in Alabama's two wins on opening weekend. Despite being a defender and spending most of her time in the backfield, the junior scored both of the Tide's game-winners. Mouton headed the ball into the back of the net off a corner to break the tie against Jacksonville State, and scored in similar fashion to put the Tide on top against Samford. Mouton's pair of goals on the season surpasses her previous career total.
IN THE SEC
In the conference, the Tide ranks third in shots (177), and is fourth in goals (20), points (59) and corners (60). Furthermore, Alabama rounds out the top five in shutouts (4).
Individually, Chatham DeProspo is tied for eighth in the league in shots (25), and Emma Welch is tied for second in assists (5), seventh in assists per game (0.50) and tenth in points (9). Kayla Mouton and Taylor Morgan are tied for fourth in game-winning goals (2) while Kat Stratton leads the SEC in minutes played in goal (903:30) and is tied for fourth in shutouts (4).
IN THE RANKINGS
For the fourth week in a row, Alabama received several national nods after its 1-1 weekend falling to No. 3 South Carolina, 1-0, and shutting out Chattanooga, 2-0, to improve to an 8-2 record after ten matches. The Tide moved down five spots from last week's rankings to No. 24 in Soccer America's women's college Top-25 and was among five programs that were other teams considered on TopDrawerSoccer.com Women's Division I Top-25 rankings. Alabama also earned 21 votes in the NSCAA poll, which is more than double the amount received in week two's rankings. Lastly, the Tide was ranked No. 36 on the NCAA's first Ratings Percentage Index on Sunday.
In the region, UA remained at No. 6 on the NSCAA Southeast Region Poll after five weeks of competition.
Nationally, Alabama ranks inside the top-50 in eight categories including total goals (30th), assists (32nd), points (28th), shots per game (21st), shots on goal per game (29th), corner kicks per game (41st), goals-against average (44th) and won-lost-tied percentage (30th).
Kayla Mouton and Taylor Morgan are tied for 39th in the nation in game-winning goals while Emma Welch ranks 17th in the country in total assists (5.0) and is tied for 47th in assists per game (0.63). Furthermore, Kat Stratton is tied for 22nd in shutouts, 16th in goalie minutes played and 46th in goals-against average.
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.
Alabama started three freshmen during the preseason exhibition match, inlcuding Brynn Martin, Taylor Morgan and Kaley Verpaele. Freshmen Nicole Lyubenko and Casey Wertz, along with redshirt freshman Alex Plavin also made an appearance in the exhibition match.
SERIES HISTORY – LSU
Thursday's match against LSU marks the 23rd meeting in history between the two squads and Alabama leads 11-7-4 in the series. In the last meeting, LSU and Alabama failed to score a goal after two overtimes, and the match ended in a tie, 0-0, on Oct. 23, 2016.
LSU enters Thursday's match with a 7-1 record and picked up its lone loss to Vanderbilt in its SEC opener, 1-0, last Sunday. The Tigers are also ranked No. 14 in the NCAA's first Ratings Percentage Index and received four votes in the NSCAA Top-25 poll this week.
Tinaya Alexander leads the Tiger offense with 13 points, seven assists and 19 shots on goal while Alex Thomas and Zoe Higgins lead the team in goals with four apiece. In the net, Caroline Brockmeier leads the conference in save percentage (.941), has only given up two goals after eight games and tops the SEC in shutouts (6) and shutouts per game (0.75).
The Tigers ended its 2016 campaign 7-11-1 and finished 12th in the conference.
SERIES HISTORY – FLORIDA
Sunday's match against Florida will mark the 22nd meeting between the two squads and Alabama trails Florida 1-18-2 in the series. In the last meeting, the Gators shutout the Tide, 6-0, in Gainesville on Oct. 20, 2016. The Crimson Tide picked up its lone victory in 2012 with a 1-0 decision in Tuscaloosa.
Florida enters Sunday's match ranked sixth in the country thanks to a 7-1 overall record and a 1-0 conference slate after edging Mississippi, 1-0, last Thursday.
Gabby Seiler leads the Gator offense with five goals, 10 shots on goal and 11 points, while ranking fifth in the conference in goals scored and goals per game. In the net, Susi Espinoza has shut out three opponents and has made 14 saves in 545:41 minutes. As a unit, Florida has averaged 1.88 goals per game and has held its opponents to 0.63 goal per game.
The Gators ended their 2016 campaign 17-5-1, were crowned SEC Tournament champions, finished tied for third in the SEC in the regular season and fell to Auburn in the third round of the NCAA Tournament, which marked their 20th appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history.
COMING UP
Alabama will continues its conference slate at home on Thursday, Sept. 28 when it takes on No. 21 Tennessee at 6 p.m. CT at the Alabama Soccer Complex. Thursday's match 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.
