Alabama Soccer Falls To Arkansas In OT Last Night
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
It was a heart-breaker in overtime last night for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide soccer team, falling 2-1 to the 15th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks at the Alabama Soccer Complex. The Tide falls to 6-3-1 overall, 1-1-1 in SEC play, with Arkansas improving to 10-1 overall, 3-0 SEC.
Soccer head coach West Hart said, "Clearly disappointed with the result. Even though that's one of the top teams in the country right now, for us, we want to win every game. I thought we did enough and gave ourselves a chance. I am very proud of the effort these girls gave. We fought with them tooth-and-nail, toe-to-toe, but at the end of the day just not enough. Hats off to Arkansas because they are an excellent team. I am disappointed for my players. Even though it was a loss, it gives us a lot of confidence and lets us know that we can compete. Arkansas is one of the hottest teams in the nation right now and it just lets us know that we are in this and can compete. It gives us a lot of confidence going into the Texas A&M game because we know that we can compete with them."
Overall, Alabama took 11 shots in the contest, four shots on goal and five corner kicks. Junior goalkeeper Kat Stratton had six saves in the match, moving her overall record between the posts to 6-3-1 overall, 1-1-1 in SEC play.
A total of 25 fouls were called last night, with six yellow cards delivered between the two teams.
The Crimson Tide will host the 14th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies on Sunday night at 6 p.m. CT at the Alabama Soccer Complex.
| Game Stats | ARK | UA |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | 2 | 1 |
| Shots | 20 | 11 |
| Shots on Goal | 8 | 4 |
| Saves | 3 | 6 |
| Corners | 8 | 5 |
| Offsides | 1 | 4 |
| Fouls | 11 | 14 |
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Final Prep For Crimson Tide-Golden Flashes Contest
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| Coach Nick Saban at the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban and the coaching staff put the Crimson Tide through their paces yesterday. But maybe he took it a little easier on them? Thursday's final practice before the Kent State game was, if nothing else, a little shorter than usual. Bama wrapped up regular practice sessions this week with a 90-minute workout in shells at the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility.
Concentration. Concentration. Concentration.
Bama players worked on the basics, the count, the assignments and the plays in preparation for the matchup.
Wide receivers ArDarius Stewart and Robert Foster are hobbled with knee injuries, according to Saban. Both are expected to be out a week or two and just getting in a little rehab and light work. Stewart suffered a sprained knee in the Ole Miss game last week, while Foster "tweaked his knee" in Wednesday's practice session.
The Crimson Tide will host the Golden Flashes tomorrow at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. Scheduled kickoff is 11:01 a.m. The game will be broadcast live the SEC Network, with the trio of Tom Hart, Andre Ware and Cole Cubelic calling the action. This will be just the second time the two teams have met. Alabama defeated Kent State in that first contest, 48-7, back in the 2011 season-opener in T-Town.
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Tide Women's Golf Oklahoma-Bound
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
The University of Alabama women's golf team is Oklahoma-bound this weekend. The Crimson Tide travels to Norman for the 2016 Schooner Fall
Classic, hosted by the University of Oklahoma, at the par-71, 5,939-yard
Belmar Golf Club September 24-26. Joining the Crimson Tide will be
Clemson, Florida State, Iowa State, Kansas, Kent State, LSU, Mississippi
State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Texas State. This will
be Alabama's first appearance in the Schooner Fall Classic.
The Crimson Tide is fresh off a fantastic win at the 2016 Mason Rudolph Championship, shooting a 25-under par on the final day of the contest to end up at 39-under par for the tournament. That score is an Alabama golf and Mason Rudolph Championship record. Sophomore Cheyenne Knight set a new program-best score of 14-under par 202.
Also topping the record book was Bama junior Lakareber Abe who carded a school-record nine-under par 63 on the final day, surpassing the old record by two shots. Her third round performance pushed her into a tie for fourth in the final standings of the tournament. Alabama sophomore Lauren Stephenson fired a 65 on Sunday to equal the previous low-round record.
Alabama sits at the top of the Golfstat statistical rankings with a team score of 69.73. Rounding out the top five are Oklahoma State (71.53), Florida (71.67), Illinois and Idaho (tied at 72.67).
Individually for the Crimson Tide it's Cheyenne Knight's 67.33 coming in at No. 2 in the individual rankings. Kristen Gillman and Lauren Stephenson are tied for 10th at 69.00 and Lakareber Abe is tied for 15th at 69.67.
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| Alabama's Cheyenne Knight Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
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Tide Women's Tennis Opens Season At Rice Invitational
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Crimson Tide women's head tennis coach Jenny Mainz said, "We are looking to play some different opponents out of region and to get a good look of some other teams. We will see some really good competition in Texas A&M, Rice, Texas State, SMU, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech and Auburn. I think if we get some quality matches under our belt, gain some confidence, get some momentum and really define the things we need to work on, so we can go back to the drawing board and practice. Then we can improve and get ready for some bigger tournaments later this fall. That's our main objective."
On tap for today for the Tide will be one doubles and one singles match, while Saturday features two doubles matches and one singles. The tournament wil close out on Sunday with the final round of singles. Match play is scheduled to begin each day at 8:30 a.m. CT.
Bama will field seniors Joanna Savva and Danielle Spielmann, junior Smith Hinton and freshmen Maddie Pothoff and Juliana Valero.
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Alabama Men's Tennis Opens 2016 Season
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
The University of Alabama men's tennis team begins the 2016 fall schedule today. Bama will host its second annual Crimson Tide Four-In-The-Fall today through the 25th at the Alabama Tennis Stadium and the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility. Teams participating in the three day event include the Alabama Crimson Tide, Columbia, Memphis and Tulane.
Alabama men's tennis head coach George Husack said, "We're really pumped to get the season started this weekend. Our guys have been extremely focused in practice, and their trainings have been some of the best I've been around. We've got a new look and feel to the team this year, and the coaches and I really like the path that we're on."
The tournament begins this morning at 9 a.m. CT and will continue throughout the day and evening featuring both doubles and singles matches. Match play on Saturday begins at 8 a.m. CT and will consist of singles only. Sunday morning's schedule includes one round of doubles and singles, beginning at 9 a.m. CT.
Husack continued, "Columbia, Memphis and Tulane are three very good programs that will bring plenty of firepower in between the court lines. Each has been successful in their conference and at the national level. More importantly, they have competed with great class and character instilled in them by their coaches. This should be a super weekend of tennis."
Seniors Hayes Brewer and Ritchie Kruunenberg, junior Matthew Rossouw, sophomores Langford Hills and Mazen Osama and freshmen Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov will be representing the Crimson Tide in the event.
Alabama has four featured in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's preseason rankings. Cancel enters the season ranked No. 5 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men's National Newcomer/Freshman Rankings. Osama comes in ranked No. 34 in the singles rankings, and is also ranked No. 26 in doubles play with his partner Rossouw.
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What Saban Said...On "Hey Coach"
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Thursday night University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban spoke quarterbacks, designing and executing plays, classes while attending Kent State, and tomorrow's game during his weekly radio show, Hey Coach.
Both quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts and Blake Barnett, received praise from Saban last night. He said that both were doing at good job.
Generating a chuckle or two was a little story Saban told sitting around with Ms. Terry. He said she told him that none of his old girlfriends had better be showing up at tomorrow's game with Kent State.
While on the subject of Kent State, and speaking of subjects, Saban said that the subject or class he took that he liked best while attending college was chemistry.
Temperature and season of the year came up. When speaking of how hot it was supposed to be tomorrow the coach said that he was "ready for the fall."
Getting back to the actual subject of football, Saban said that what was needed was more players willing to play winning football. He then spoke of the mental errors that had been made in previous games, especially in the Ole Miss game. He said that if this team was going to be as good a team as it can be then the team needs to clean these things up, and focus and become more detail-oriented.
Concerning injuries, Saban updated the situation concerning a pair of players. He said that both ArDarius Stewart and Robert Foster are expected to be out for a week or two with knee injuries.
Turning to last week's contest with the Ole Miss Rebels, Saban was both forthcoming about the problems and yet complimentary. He said that even though Marlon Humphrey had a tough week against the Rebels, he had been a "really, really good player for us." He then turned to the explosive plays that Ole Miss put on the Crimson Tide in the contest, saying there were a total of seven, with six of those being pass plays and one a running play. He commented that was way too many for the defense to give up.
Saban was positive and complimentary concerning the play-calling in the Mississippi game, saying that running the ball and having balance on offense is very important to being successful, and used that game as an example.
The pregame meal for the Crimson Tide this week will be around 7:15 a.m. CT this Saturday, with the Tide being awakened about 6:45 a.m. due to the game having an 11 a.m. start time.
One of Coach Saban's old Kent State teammates paid him a compliment last night, coming up and speaking about Saban's college days. He said that Saban was as classy a guy as a teammate as he is as Alabama's coach.
Saban did call out Kent State's quarterback, Mylik Michell, last night, saying that he was a very athletic player, a good runner as well as a good passer. The coach complimented the QB saying that he was "going to be a fantastic player" and that he was "very impressed" when watching film of the young man.
The coach also commented that he would be appreciative of "a great crowd out there on Saturday" concerning the Kent State game tomorrow.
The Crimson Tide and Golden Flashes meet tomorrow morning in Bryant-Denny Stadium, with an 11:01 kickoff planned.
