Alabama
Kentucky
Alabama Soccer Hosts Kentucky Before Traveling to Mississippi State
10/3/2018 5:19:00 PM | Soccer
The Crimson Tide will face the Wildcats Thursday and the Bulldogs Sunday
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama women's soccer approaches the mid-way point of its Southeastern Conference season tied with Kentucky in the conference standings. The Crimson Tide hosts Kentucky Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Alabama Soccer Complex. Alabama will hit the road Sunday at Mississippi State at 1 p.m. CT. Admission to home games is free for all fans, and both contests can be seen on SEC Network+.
Thursday vs. Kentucky (7 p.m. CT)
PROMOTIONS
- Fuzzy's - National Taco Day (Tacos for the first 200 students)
- Snow Cones & Popcorn from the Women & Gender Resource Center table on the concourse
Sunday at Mississippi State (1 p.m. CT)
ALABAMA BY THE NUMBERS
The Crimson Tide is 6-6-1 and 0-4-0 in SEC play.
Last season, the Tide opened conference play with four consecutive losses before going on to win the remaining four matches.
Alabama has held an edge over its opponents this season scoring 13 more goals than its opponents (28-15), while launching 81 more shots (232-151), and putting 34 more shots on goal (105-71) than its foes. The Tide averages 2.15 goals per game and 17.8 shots per game.
In 1043:32 minutes of play, goalkeeper Alex Plavin has turned in 1.12 goals against average and has registered 45 saves and four shutouts.
Alabama recorded its fourth shutout of the season on Sept. 16, with a 1-0 win over DePaul.
Alabama was picked to finish eighth in the SEC by a vote of the league's head coaches. The Tide had five players who were selected to the SEC Preseason Watch List: Forwards Abbie Boswell and Casey Wertz along with midfielders Christina Maartensson, Taylor Morgan and Emma Welch.
LAST WEEK'S RECAP
Alabama fell to LSU 2-0, as the Tiger's struck a goal in each half. Following the Tide's efforts in Baton Rouge, senior Abbie Boswell lands second place in the league for shots and shots per game (17), after launching eight shots, four being on goal.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
This season Alabama has shown depth in its roster, with 12 different players scoring and talling assists in the 13 games played.
Leading the team in goals (6) and points (12), is sophomore Casey Wertz, who accumulated her sixth goal of the season Sept. 20, at Vanderbilt.
Senior Abbie Boswell leads the team in assists (5) and shots (54).
Rounding out the top three in points (10), is freshman Kat Rogers (4g, 2a), who racked up two goals and two assists in the 5-1 win over South Alabama.
The 5-0 shutout over Troy on Sept. 9, was a big day for redshirt-freshman Gigi Schorr, as she recorded her first career goal, but did not stop there and tallied two more goals for a hat trick.
FRESH FACES
The Tide's freshman class has already made a big impact, with four freshmen earning starting positions in at least two games so far this season. Riley Mattingly has started in 10 out of the 13 matches, while Kat Rogers has started in five games.
NON-CONFERENCE CAMPAIGN
The Tide completed a seven-game homestand to start the season. Sporting a record of 5-2 over the stretch, and a 6-2 non-conference record.
The Tide outscored its opponents 26-9, outshot its non-conference foes 177-101 and put 79 shots on frame to their opponents' 51.
Goalkeeper Alex Plavin and the Alabama defense shutout four teams and allowed a total of only eight goals (0.89 goals per game).
The only non-conference home loss came Aug. 24, when the Tide fell to FGCU, 4-2. Even with FGCU scoring four goals, Plavin made a career-high nine saves in the losing effort.
Perhaps Alabama's best non-conference match was against Troy on Sept. 9. The Crimson Tide shutout its third opponent of the season 5-0, allowing only three shots on goal for Trojans. Gigi Schorr completed a hat trick, scoring three goals. Abbie Boswell scored the remaining two to lead the Tide, and Emma Welch broke the program's career assists record, totaling 21 assists.
2018 SEC PLAY
The Tide has been outscored, 7-2, but has put up five more shots than its opponents, 55-50.
Alabama fell to the SEC leader Vanderbilt, on Sept. 20, 3-2. The Commodores scored late in the first half, but Alabama got on the board in the 59th minute when sophomore Casey Wertz scored her sixth goal of the season to tie the game. Both teams scored in the 71st minute of the game, including senior Emma Welch's second goal of the season. Vanderbilt scored one last time to finalize the game.
After 90 minutes of hard-fought defense, the Tide fell to Arkansas on Sept. 23, 1-0.
IN THE SEC
In the conference statistics, the Tide stands beside Kentucky in a tie, and falls just a few spots back from Mississippi State. Alabama leads the Wildcats in shots (55-24), points (4-3), goals per game (2-1), and corners (20-10). While the Bulldogs, have two more shots (57) and one more point over Alabama (5).
Both Mississippi State and Alabama have scored two goals in SEC play.
Individually, senior Abbie Boswell, jumps six spots from last week in the shots per game ranking to land second in the league (17).
COACHES CORNER
Coach Wes Hart on Kentucky: "It's really like a one-game season for us, here on out. We've been here before, we were here last year. We struggled early in the SEC, with a brutal schedule that pitted us against all the best teams early on. We were in a similar situation with must win games, and we responded by winning our last four games of the season. Before those last four games, we were sitting in dead last place. Like I said, we have been here before, and it is certainly not where we want to be. I'd much rather be sitting comfortable right now, but we know it just takes one win to get going and get our confidence back. We are not focusing on Mississippi State or Florida next week, really everything is about trying to find our feet against Kentucky."
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Thursday's match against Kentucky marks the 21st meeting in history between the two squads, as Alabama trails the series, 5-13-2. The most recent meeting ended in a double overtime draw (1-1), on Sept. 18, 2016.
The last Alabama win against Kentucky came in 2012, when the Tide outscored the Wildcats 2-1 (2ot) in Lexington.
Kentucky enters Thursday's match owning a 4-9 overall record. In SEC play, the Wildcats are on the hunt for their first conference win too, as they sport a 0-4 record after opening SEC with three consecutive shutouts.
Currently, the Wildcats hold the longest losing streak in the SEC, dropping their last five matches.
Yuuka Kurosaki and Hollie Olding lead Kentucky in attacking, as they both have scored four goals this season. Olding is the only Kentucky player that has scored a goal in 2018 conference action.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Mississippi State (8-2-1, 1-2-1) will play Vanderbilt, before facing Alabama on Sunday for the 23rd time. The Tide leads the series (12-7-3). The last meeting on Oct. 15, 2017 ended in a 3-2 (2ot) Alabama home win.
Bulldog's forward Zakirah McGillivary was named SEC Freshman of the Week last week, after scoring the game-winner in overtime to snap No. 13 South Carolina's 24-match SEC unbeaten streak. The goal was her fourth game-winner of the season.
McGillivary and MaKayla Waldner have accounted for 12 out of the 25 team goals scored this season.
Goalkeeper Rhylee DeCrane ranks fourth in conference with 17 saves and one shutout in the four games played.
COMING UP
Alabama returns home in a week, playing Florida on Sunday, Oct. 14, at 4 p.m. CT.
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.
