Alabama
Vanderbilt
Alabama Soccer Travels to Vanderbilt Before Hosting Arkansas this Weekend
9/19/2018 1:46:00 PM | Soccer
The Tide continues conference play Thursday against the Commodores and will return home Sunday to host the Razorbacks
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama will continue its conference slate with a road contest Thursday at Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. CT. The Crimson Tide will then return to Tuscaloosa to host Arkansas Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Alabama Soccer Complex. Admission is free for all fans. Both contests can be seen on SEC Network +.
Thursday at Vanderbilt (7 p.m. CT)
Sunday vs Arkansas (6 p.m. CT)
ACTIVITIES
- Poster Making
- Post-game Autographs and Shootout
LAST WEEK'S RECAP
• Alabama opened SEC play with a hard-fought game against Ole Miss, falling 1-0 on Sept. 13. The two teams battled it out playing a scoreless first half, but the Rebels pushed through scoring the game winning goal in the 45th minute.
• The Tide bounced back Sept. 16, as Alabama played its first away match after seven home games with a toad contest at DePaul. Sophomore Emma Thomson scored her first career goal late in the second half to give the Crimson Tide a 1-0 win over the Blue Demons and finalize non-conference play for the 2018 season.
NON-CONFERENCE CAMPAIGN
• The Tide completed the homestand, sporting a record of 5-2 over the stretch, and a 6-2 non-conference record.
• Alabama started the season with a record-tying seven game homestand, which began Aug. 24, against FGCU and finished Sept. 13 with the SEC opener against Ole Miss. The Tide finished the stretch with a 5-2 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 over her four years.
ALABAMA BY THE NUMBERS
• The Tide (6-3-1, 0-1-0 SEC) saw its five-match winning streak come to an end on Sept. 13, when it fell to Ole Miss in its SEC opener, 1-0.
• Alabama recorded its fourth shutout of the season on Sept. 16, with a 1-0 win over DePaul.
• Alabama has held an edge over its opponents scoring more than double the goals than its opponents (26-9) this season, while launching 84 more shots (194-110), and putting 26 more shots on goal (82-56) than its foes. The Tide averages 2.60 goals per game and 19.4 shots per game.
• In 773:32 minutes of play, goalkeeper Alex Plavin has turned in 0.81 goals against average and has registered 36 saves and four shutouts.
• Hart is in his fourth season at Alabama, with an improved record in each of his first three seasons at the helm of the program. He owns a career record of 32-31-6 over his four seasons, but is 27-19-4 since the 2016 campaign.
• 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.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
• This season Alabama has shown depth in its roster, as 12 different players have scored and tallied assists in the 10 games played.
• Senior Abbie Boswell has taken the lead in points after accumulating another assist in Sunday's 1-0 win over DePaul. She currently stands with 11 points (3g, 5a) for this year.
• Tied at 10 points, is sophomore Casey Wertz, who is off to a hot start as she has already scored five goals, leading the team in scoring.
• On the other side of the tie, is freshman Kat Rogers (4g, 2a), who racked up two goals and two assists in the win over South Alabama.
• The shutout over Troy marked to be 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 three freshmen earning starting positions in at least one game so far this season. Riley Mattingly has started in nine out of the 10 matches, while Kat Rogers has started in the last five games.
• Rogers and Gigi Schorr alone have accounted for seven out of the 26 team goals scored this season.
IN THE SEC
• In the conference statistics, the Tide ranks among the league leaders in six ranging categories, and leads the SEC in shots (194) and saves (47). Alabama ranks third in points (76) and is tied for second in assists with Texas A&M (24). Just one goal behind Ole Miss, Alabama places fourth in total goals (26) and fifth in goals per game (2.60).
• Individually, senior Abbie Boswell ranks first in shots and shots per game (41). Three Alabama players land spots in the top 10 for league points. Boswell shares eighth place with Mississippi State's Zakirah McGillvary and freshman Kat Rogers and sophomore Casey Wertz tie with three other SEC players.
• While sophomore Alex Plavin ranks third in saves (36) and ties for fourth in shutouts (4).
• The Tide also leads the league in team miscellaneous and attendance with a total of 6,586 fans in attendance over the last 10 home and away games.
COACHES CORNER
• Coach Hart on playing Vanderbilt and Arkansas: "I think we have a pretty similar team to Vanderbilt, both their coach and I started at the same time and we are both going into our fourth season. Both of us have seen some steady improvement from our teams and play a similar style. We have gotten the better of them the last few times we have played them, but just like any game in the SEC you can flip a coin on a lot of these games. It is a matter of who brings it that day or catches a break. I think it is going to be an evenly-matched game."
• Coach Hart on the win against DePaul: "I think we certainly responded well after losing a tough one to Ole Miss. We bounced back and won a very important game to us."
SCOUTING THE COMMODORES
• Thursday's match against Vanderbilt marks the 23rd meeting in history between the two squads, after a year of not facing each other. Although the Commodores lead the series 13-6-4, Alabama has won the last three matches played, most recently a 2-0 win on Oct. 27, 2016.
• Vanderbilt began SEC play with a 2-1 victory at Florida on Sunday Sept. 16. With the win, Vanderbilt (8-1, 1-0) clinched its eighth straight victory, the program's longest winning streak since 2005.
• Vanderbilt was predicted to finish ninth in the SEC.
• Fresh off a medical redshirt season, forward Haley Hopkins leads the team in points with 13 (5g, 3a), and ties for third among the SEC for game-winning goals (3).
• Junior goalkeeper Lauren Demarchi ranks first in the SEC for save percentage (.947) and is third in goals against average (0.23).
SCOUTING THE RAZORBACKS
• Alabama is in search of its 14th win against Arkansas as the Tide leads the series, 13-8-3.
• Arkansas (5-2-2) most recently played Providence on Sept. 16, after going into double overtime and 110 minutes of play, the game ended in a draw, 1-1.
• Before the Razorbacks meet the Tide on Sunday, they will face Texas A&M Thursday for a home match.
• While Arkansas remains undefeated at home (4-0-1), they are 0-2 for the season in away games.
• Arkansas has received three SEC Weekly Honors, two for offensive player of the week to sophomore Parker Goins and junior Kayla McKeon, and Carly Hoke was named defensive player of the week.
• In goal, the Razorbacks will have sophomore Rachel Harris, who has racked up 39 saves and is averaging 4.33 saves per game.
COMING UP
• Alabama continues conference play as it travels to LSU on Thursday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m.
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.
