Alabama Soccer: The 2021 Season Preview

A new-look Crimson Tide begins play August 19, and the program eyes improvement from its overall performance last season.

Alabama soccer begins its season at home to Jacksonville State this evening, and the Crimson Tide that dresses out will have a new look compared to last spring thanks to almost half its roster being newcomers.

The program finished its preseason preparation, which included two intersquad scrimmages and an exhibition on the road to Tennessee, and now looks to the regular season after having time to get in playing shape.

“We’re excited. It was two weeks of preseason now in the books and now it’s time to get going," Alabama coach Wes Hart said. “I think we came in fitter than, well, probably just as fit as I hoped they would be, which allowed us to kind of concentrate on some other stuff.”

Now in his seventh season at Alabama, Hart led the Crimson Tide to a 7-8-2 record and 2-5-2 mark in SEC play in 2020-21. Its schedule was split in the fall and spring.

There were various factors to why the Crimson Tide struggled to get winning results, including COVID-19 disruptions and an abbreviated roster. But with a new year comes new energy, a fresh start for those inside the program. 

In terms of the expectations other SEC soccer coaches have, though, Alabama is picked to finish eighth among 14 conference teams in the preseason coaches' poll. Division rival Texas A&M is the coaches' pick to win the SEC, meanwhile.

But Alabama returns a good share of talent, and there are key additions, too.

Fifteen players come back to the Capstone, including midfielders Felicia Knox, Macy Clem, and Kat Rogers, the leading scorer and co-assist leaders last year, defender Bella Scatturo, who started every game last season, and Reyna Reyes, a junior who's spent time with the senior squad of the Mexico National Team.

Keep in mind, Knox, Clem, and Reyes are selections to the SEC Preseason Watch List. 

But it's not all familiar faces. The Tide will work 14 new ones into the 2021 roster. Alabama signed 11 freshmen and three transfers, making for a deeper squad that should be better equipped for its upcoming schedule, according to Hart.

“That’s kind of a big incoming class between freshmen and transfers, and so for us to try to get everyone integrated in and get to know each other, it’s been the priority for our preseason," Hart said.

Among the 11 freshmen to put on the crimson and white for the first time to Jacksonville State, five arrived to Alabama in the spring, goalkeepers Eva Hoyseth and Hannah Alexander, forwards Brooke Steere and Aislin Streicek, and midfielder Raigen Powell.

They, along with transfers Ashlynn Serepca, formerly of Virginia, Riley Tanner, who transferred from South Carolina, and Brooke Bollinger, previously of Florida State, each debut this fall and combine to total almost half the Crimson Tide's 29-player roster.

Having evaluated the transfer talents at the college level, Hart believes the now-Alabama trio will provide the roster with depth it didn't have in the spring, and he thinks their experiences at winning programs will add high-level competition.

Of Bollinger, Hart said, "I think between her and Mac [McKinley Crone], it’s got to be one of the best goalkeeper tandems, certainly in the league, and maybe across the country."

In Alabama's exhibition last week to Tennessee, the two keepers split time in goal and came away with a clean sheet at the final whistle. Between them, the Volunteers tallied seven shots on goal.

As for the players on the Alabama roster who will be attacking opposing keepers ...

Of Serepca, the former Virginia forward, Hart said, “She’s going to be someone that has experience winning championships. She’s certainly going to add a lot to the team.” 

Serepca is one of four Alabama players on the SEC Preseason Watch List, joining the aforementioned Knox, Clem, and Reyes. 

Tanner, meanwhile, the transfer from South Carolina, will join Serepca as reinforcement to the goal-scoring threats up front who return to Alabama. The former SEC rival joins the Crimson Tide as a senior. 

Hart likes the potential dynamic of the veteran signings, as well as a few of the freshmen he's expecting to make an impact.

“Those three add a lot of experience and a lot of quality, and then sprinkle in some of the freshmen that are coming in, and we’ve got some pretty good new faces.”

But the Alabama schedule won't offer a somewhat newly-acquainted team many favors. Following its season opener to in-state Jacksonville State, the Crimson Tide has non-conference matchups to Florida State, the nation's top-ranked team entering the NCAA Tournament last year, Lamar, and Southern Miss.

After four more non-conference matches, including to No. 7 TCU and No. 21 Memphis, Alabama begins SEC play September 16 on the road to Ole Miss.

It's a 19-match regular season with 12 being at home and featuring conference foes Missouri (September 23), LSU (October 1), Mississippi State (October 10), Kentucky (October 21), and Auburn (October 28).

The SEC Tournament then follows Alabama's regular season slate on Halloween, October 31, in Orange Beach, Alabama. It concludes November 7. 

Then, the NCAA Tournament begins November 12, less than one week following the Crimson Tide's SEC tournament push.