Alabama Soccer Outlasts Northwestern, Advances in NCAA Tournament After Shootout

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— When the Alabama women's soccer team was given an opportunity to host the first round of the NCAA Tournament at home as a No. 8 seed, it marked the third time in four seasons that the program reached the milestone.

A pair of 10-minute overtime periods was not enough to settle a 2-2 draw with Northwestern, but the Crimson Tide sent its home crowd happy by pulling through and making all three attempts in the penalty shootout. Thus, for the third time in four seasons, Alabama was victorious in the opening round at home.

"It was massive to have our home crowd here," head coach Wes Hart said after the exhilirating matchup. "For them to be cheering and kinda going crazy while Northwestern was taking their kicks, I don't know how much that distracted them or not, but just even when we were pushing for the goal, to have our crowd behind us and kinda get energy from them, the home crowd was massive."

Wildcats forward Kennedy Roesch cut the ribbon on the night's scoring with a goal in the 28th minute. That was the only score during the first half, for either side, and Alabama (11-8-2) emerged from the break with a mission to equalize.

That moment finally came in the 68th minute, when striker Larkin Thomason put her ninth goal of the campaign home off her right foot. She's made a huge impact on the Crimson Tide's attack since transferring from Mercer, and her new team needed her in Friday's win-or-die situation.

"I knew that girl was gonna bite on that ball. She's done it the entire game," Thomason said. "I just kinda let it roll through. It did hit off one of the defenders' legs, went in the goal, but sometimes things just fall your way."

However, Northwestern (9-4-8) retook the advantage in minute 74 courtesy of a scoring strike from Megan Norkett. Without much time left, the Crimson Tide needed a hero, and it was senior Gianna Paul who stepped up on a huge 85th-minute cross to sophomore Maddie Padelski, who headed in the tying goal for her fifth of the season.

"I can't say enough about Maddie tonight," Hart said. "The goal was obviously massive, but I thought all game long, I thought she caused them all sorts of problems. Probably the best I've seen her play since she's been at Alabama."

Padelski said Paul, the program's all-time leading scorer whose career would have ended with a loss to the Wildcats, is one of many for whom her teammates are fighting to get one more match. Paul left Friday's game after going down injured with just over half a minute to go in the second overtime period; she was not called upon to attempt a penalty kick moments later.

"That [cross] was beautiful," Padelski said. "I think every game we go into, we look at each other and we say, 'If you can't do it for yourself, you've gotta look to the people around you.' Whether it's your seniors, the coaches, the staff, whoever it is. Right now, we're playing for our seniors."

Gianna Paul. — Gianna Paul (14). | BamaCentral

Hart said Alabama's goal was to wrap up the contest with a sudden-death score before it reached penalty kicks. Even though that didn't happen, the Crimson Tide had looks at what would've been a game-winning goal. Thomason said Hart's message was all about giving extra effort to push through.

"Our teammates. Unbelievable," Thomason said. "Not a single person stopped believing that we were gonna win this game."

Roesch pushed the ball past junior goalkeeper Coralie Lallier, who had a great game in Madi Munguia's stead, on the Wildcats' first attempt in the shootout. Alabama's Melina Rebimbas responded in kind after checking back into the game. Northwestern didn't find the back of the net again. Lallier saved each of the next three tries, including one from Norkett that ended the game when it was rebuffed.

"[Lallier] had some good saves tonight, and then came up massive in the shootout," Hart said. "Big-time by her."

Thomason and junior midfielder Nadia Ramadan did their jobs during the shootout, and the Crimson Tide hit on all its attempts while Lallier did the rest. Alabama will move on to face No. 1 Stanford in Palo Alto in the second round on Friday.

Alabama outshot Northwestern 24-13, but Wildcats goalie Nyamma Nelson made a big impact on the evening with eight saves. Her efforts kept the Crimson Tide out of the back of the net for a long time, but she couldn't finish the home team all the way off, while the visitors faltered after the two overtimes. Alabama is now 4-0 in first-round NCAA Tournament games since the 2021 season.

"Team is fired up," Hart said. "What a big-time performance... I think we're playing our best soccer right now... That's what you want to be doing this time of year."

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