Top-Seeded Alabama Advances to SEC Championships With Win over Vanderbilt

Thursday, November 3

Pensacola, Fla.

5 p.m. CT

Alabama

19-1-1, 10-0-0

5th-seeded Vanderbilt

11-4-4, 5-3-2

Vanderbilt

Alabama

Top-Seeded Alabama Advances to SEC Championships With Win over Vanderbilt

11/3/2022 9:33:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score

The Crimson Tide will play the winner of second-seed South Carolina and sixth-seed Georgia on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT

PENSACOLA, Fla. – A pair of goals from Riley Mattingly Parker propelled No. 1-seeded Alabama (19-1-1) to a 2-1 victory over No. 5-seeded Vanderbilt (11-4-4) Thursday as the Crimson Tide advanced to its first SEC Championship appearance since 1995.

A foul inside the box sent Parker to the penalty kick spot with 40 seconds left the clock and the scored tied at 1-1. Parker took a short run to the ball and fired it into the back of the net to give the Tide the 2-1 win.

From Head Coach Wes Hart

"So proud of this team. What a great win. So many players stepped up tonight and made plays when we needed them. It's been like that all season long though. I know we get a lot of credit for our attacking soccer. Our style of play, our goals, our assists are certainly impressive, but I can't say enough about our defending, toughness and grit. I don't think people give us enough credit for that. We've shown the ability to come from behind and grind teams down. I thought tonight was a perfect example of that. Vanderbilt is a very talented team and played us incredibly tough, but I felt we wore them down and dominated the entire second half. It was a great performance. So excited to play for our fourth trophy of the season on Sunday."

How It Happened

Vanderbilt scored first when Peyton Cutshall sent a header into the top right corner of the net
Less than five minutes later, Riley Mattingly Parker found the Tide's equalizer
Felicia Knox played Riley Tanner through the backline, crossing the ball to Parker standing in front of the net for the header
Alabama dominated possession in the second half but was unable to put the ball into the net
With less than a minute to play, Gianna Paul was taken down inside the box
Parker stepped up and netted the shot to give the Tide the win

Game Notes

The Tide advanced to the finals for the second time in program history and first time since 1995
The win over Vanderbilt marked the first time UA has recorded two wins in the SEC Tournament
UA moved to 19 wins on the year and tallied its15th-consecutive victory
Riley Mattingly Parker set the program record for single-season game-winning goals, netting her sixth this season with her 89^th-minute penalty kick in Thursday's game
Parker now holds 34 points this season after notching her 13th and 14th goals against the Commodores
The victory snapped a four-game win streak by Vanderbilt

Alabama will play the winner between second-seeded South Carolina and sixth-seeded Georgia
The SEC Championship kicks off Sunday at 1 p.m. CT on the 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.

-UA-