Alabama Soccer Keeps Finding Ways to Win
It's not often that Wes Hart and the Alabama Crimson Tide find themselves trailing in a game, but that was the case early on in the SEC Tournament semifinal against Vanderbilt on Thursday night.
Like usual this season, Alabama had more than an answer.
How it did so, though, en route to the 2-1 victory in Pensacola was very different.
About 15 minutes in, the Crimson Tide was down 1-0 after Peyton Cutshall knocked a crossing pass into the box into the back of the net. It was a powerful first strike by the fifth-seeded Commodores, but Alabama wasn't the top seed of the tournament without reason.
During the times the Crimson Tide did face early adversity, it didn't take Alabama long to return a response, which was delivered by Riley Mattingly Parker by heading in a goal off a cross from Riley Tanner.
"This team continues to amaze me and impress me, and I'm so incredibly proud," Hart told BamaCentral after the game. "We've won so many games in so many different ways this year. What an incredible win tonight.
"Not the first time that we've come down from a goal. I love the response after Vanderbilt struck first. We didn't end the first half particularly well, but I thought the second half we came out flying. We were all over them the second half."
The second half was so much in Alabama's favor. Vanderbilt didn't even attempt a shot while the Crimson Tide had several close calls but nothing to show for it. The glass finally broke, however, when Gianna Paul drew a foul in the box, setting up Parker for the game-winning penalty kick.
With the win, Alabama will make its first SEC Tournament title appearance since 1995, where it'll face SEC East champion South Carolina. After winning its first regular season conference title, Alabama is looking to add its first SEC Tournament championship in program history.
"You enjoy it," Hart said about his initial message to the team. "We don't wanna go through the season and not appreciate what we're doing. We've done so many incredible things this, the amount of school records we've smashed this year, the amount of firsts we've accomplished.
"We certainly need to enjoy it, but like Riley said, we wanna make sure we're still hungry for more, and with this group, there's not a doubt in my mind we're gonna remain hungry."
See Also:
Alabama Soccer Advances to SEC Tournament Championship
Joy in Net: McKinley Crone More Than Alabama Soccer's Last Line of Defense
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