Big 2nd Half Gives Bama Soccer 4-2 Victory
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| UA Soccer Starters vs Murray State Photo Credit: RollTide.com |
It really wasn't looking good there for awhile. Down 2-0, the Alabama soccer team scored four goals in the second half to claim its second victory of the season 4-2 last nigh over the Murray State Racers at the Alabama Soccer Complex. Junior forward Lacey Clarida punched in a pair of goals, with sophomore Abbie Boswell adding a goal and an assist to improve the Crimson Tide to 2-0 on the young season. That's now nine goals in Bama's first two contests, the most since the opening of the 2004 season.
Alabama head soccer coach Wes Hart said, "I am thrilled with the result, but a bit disappointed with how we started the game. We lacked energy and fight in the first half. You can throw tactics out the window. If you don't bring life to the game and you are not prepared to do the work, then tactics and skill don't mater. I could not be more pleased with our response in the second half. We came out and were aggressive from the opening kickoff. We did not play frantic, but we were urgent. Our fitness and our mental toughness showed tonight. It sounds so cliché, but we need to play the entire game the way we did in the second half. If we can learn to do that then we will win a lot of games this year."
Bama out-shot State by a 12-9 margin in the first half, but found themselves on the short end of a 2-0 score by intermission. But a 14-3 shot advantage in the second half boosted Bama's shot total advantage to 26-12, with 10-7 of those on goal and 7-2 corner kicks which gave the Tide the opportunity to put four goals in.
The Crimson Tide will host the Campbell Camels at the Alabama Soccer Complex on Friday, August 26th at 7 p.m. CT.
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4-Star WR Devonta Smith Will Wait On Commitment
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| 4-Star Wide Receiver Devonta Smith Will wait until National Signing Day to announce Photo Credit: 247Sports |
Though Smith was already supposed to have made his announcement, he postponed it due to the flooding in Louisiana, and to give himself a little more time. He has now announced a new commitment date, one that will give him plenty of time. Smith has decided to wait until National Signing Day, February 1, 2017 to announce where he will continue his football career.
In a conversation with SEC Country, Smith said, "I'm going to have to wait until February. To be honest, I don’t know (what will separate LSU, Alabama and Miami). I knew I was going to get up to the table (last week) and pick right then, and I wasn’t able to do that."
Though the Crimson Tide has long been considered the front-runner for his services, it appears late visits have given him pause to consider other possibilities. It appears that Alabama, LSU and Miami are running neck and neck...and neck...for his services. He said that "no one is ahead of no one."
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Kirk Herstreit Of ESPN Comments On AP Top 25
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| Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN Photo Credit: ESPN |
One of the best college football analysts around, Kirk Herstreit of ESPN, spoke this morning on SportsCenter concerning the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 College Football Poll released yesterday morning.
Though an Ohio State alum, Herstreit is surprised and disagrees with the choice of Ohio State coming in at No. 6. No, he definitely doesn't think the Buckeyes should be ranked higher. He spoke of the losses that OSU had, and that the voters are..."trying to put together a team without knowing anything really." He commented that No. 6 position might "raise some eyebrows."
Okay, now that his alma mater is out of the way, what does Herbstreit think about the top picks? He commented, "I think the one thing that stands out right away is that of the four teams that made the playoff, three are right back up there in the Top 3. I think it tells you a lot of times you're voting by what happened last season and you're trying to guess. Keep in mind we haven't seen any of these teams yet and we're speculating."
Herstreit believes that parity in college football will come into play this season. He said, "This will be one of those years where there’s a lot of parity and it’ll come down to who’s healthy and who makes the most of their personnel. I don’t think the committee has it in them after 15 weeks of football to vote two teams from one conference. Even if they think they’re in the top four, I don’t see them ever doing that. They’ll be worried about feedback. This might be a year that it might be a valid point, but I don’t think he committee will ever put two teams from one conference in."
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Famous Celebrity Birthdays
Randall Cobb, 26
Braden Schenn, 25
Jimmy Uso, 31
Jay Uso, 31
Kristen Wiig, 43
James Corden, 38
Ricardo Hurtado, 18
Ty Burrell, 49
Giada De Laurentiis, 46
Lulu Antariksa, 21
Dakota Goyo, 17
Shannon Flynn, 20
Richard Armitage, 45
Keith Powers, 24
Tori Amos, 53
Valerie Harper, 77
Cindy Williams, 69
Rodrigo Santoro, 41
Ari Stidham, 24
Brooke Dillman, 50
