Alabama Athletics
What is Next for Alabama Soccer?
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— When Wes Hart returned to Tuscaloosa after the College Cup, he did what most coaches and athletes do after a long season.
He took a needed break.
"For me, and what we also encouraged the players to do, was go home and take a mental break from soccer and enjoy what we accomplished," Hart said. "It was a pretty special season that we had, and certainly our hope is we can continue building off that.
"At the same time, there are no guarantees, and you need to enjoy what you did."
Hart and the Alabama soccer program deserved it after a historic 2022 season that saw the team finish with a laundry list of accomplishments:
- Set program records for goals, assists, wins and shutouts
- Go undefeated at home and in SEC regular season play en route to a conference title
- Riley Mattingly Parker, Reyna Reyes and Felicia Knox became All-Americans
- Earned the first No. 1-seed in program history in the NCAA Tournament
- The Crimson Tide reached the College Cup for the first time
Alabama stood toe-to-toe with the blue bloods of women's soccer last fall: UCLA, Florida State (where Hart was an assistant) and North Carolina. Unfortunately, the national semifinal would be where the season ended as the Crimson Tide lost 3-0 to the Bruins.
Now the Crimson Tide is back on the field for the spring season, and Hart and player are looking forward to building on what they accomplished.
"We came back in January," the coach said. "The group looked fit, excited and ready to go."
"I'm excited to be back," senior midfielder Felicia Knox said. "We definitely spent a lot of hours in the fall together, but it's nice meeting our new enrollees and transfers — welcoming them in and creating an atmosphere they want to be a part of."
Among the new faces in Tuscaloosa is forward Itala Gemelli, a former Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year from Dayton who scored 12 goals for the Flyers in 2022.
"They had a great season, and it was so much fun to follow along and watch," Gemelli said. "When I had the opportunity to join it, I jumped at that opportunity."
As the team prepares for a new season in the fall, it leads to a question regarding Alabama's future after a successful 2022:
What's next?
The biggest change is that the Crimson Tide lost several key players from last year's team:
- Parker, who set a new program record for goals (17) and points (41) in a season, was drafted to the NWSL and is currently playing in Mexico
- Reyes, the 2022 SEC Defender of the Year, was also drafted 5th overall by the Portland Thorns
- McKinley Crone, the starting goalkeeper who holds the NCAA record for career goalkeeping minutes played, also turned pro
Having also departed are Ashlynn Serepca, who was second on the team with 10 goals; Kat Rogers, who served as one of the team's captains; and Riley Tanner, who was the third Crimson Tide product drafted to the NWSL and will play for Panama in the 2023 World Cup.
"You named a lot of very good players and even left out a few very good players," Hart said. "But what's great about this group is you're still left with a lot of great players. If you look at the core of the group, you still have three of four defenders, you got Macy Clem and Felicia [Knox] inside, and you got Gianna Paul and Kate Henderson up top.
"It's not as if we're starting from scratch. We got a good nucleus."
Henderson and Bella Scaturro will both be seniors in 2023.
Scaturro missed all of last season with an injury (she was wearing a leg brace during practice) and Henderson played about two-thirds of the season before an injury sidelined her for the rest of 2022.
The key factor about those two players is that they are proven commodities within the program. Scaturro missed last season, but she was a three-year starter before that, giving Hart another veteran defender after losing Reyes. Henderson has also been with the program her entire collegiate career, and she started 11 of the first 15 games of the year in 2022.
Still, what made last year's team successful was the overall chemistry, which this team will try and continue and develop as new and old players mesh during the spring season.
"A big part of our chemistry last year was the fact that we came over the summer and we were together so often," Paul said. "The new players coming early really helps us connect and gel together better."
The challenge for Paul and Knox isn't only adjusting to the fresh faces around them, but to new roles.
Knox was one of the best players on the team last season, but a lot of the traditional leadership duties fell to Parker, Rogers, Reyes and Crone. Now as a senior, she now steps into more of the traditional "veteran" role, where her leadership will be called upon.
However, she's been shut down for the spring while recovering from a partially torn hamstring. Hart said she played through the injury in the fall and admitted that he would often forget about it, but occasionally Knox would tell him after a game that the injury was causing her discomfort.
"Obviously they did a great job, so it's really easy to take the foundation they have laid as the leaders," Knox said. "I think leading by example is the best way to do it. If I'm doing everything I can to lead the team, then it's easier for them to follow."
Hart added that Knox has been named a captain and she's embraced the role, on and off the field. He also said that while she did look great in training, the injury wasn't "getting any better," so the aim now is for the injury to heal before the fall.
After winning SEC Freshman of the Year and receiving All-Freshman and Second Team All-SEC selections, a lot more eyes will also be on Paul.
"I have a lot of apprehension leading into that because I know the pedestal I put myself on last year," Paul said. "I am my biggest critic, so the expectations are more on me than anyone else. With all of the attention, it leaves a lot more room for other people to shine.
"With defenders harping on me, it leaves Itala open. There are tons of other players that are as good as me and produce the same results. It's a team before anything else."
The apprehension is understandable — Paul had a fantastic freshman year with all the surrounding veteran talent. It also doesn't help that Parker won't be there to take the attention away.
But when Hart was asked about his expectations for her, the coach replied with a simple answer.
"Keep being 'GP'," Hart said. "I don't want to put a number on it like we need 'X' amount of goals or anything. Just be herself."
Outside of Paul and Knox, other players will have a chance to have an increased. Hart specifically mentioned Gessica Skorka, who had a big impact last season but was often the odd one out among so many talented players.
"Her and Macy Clem were kind of a victim of our success," Hart said. "We just had so many good players out there and not everyone can get awards. I think Skorka is gonna be one of the best outside backs in the league, if not the country. She is so good at getting forward and into the attack.
"Clem got overshadowed a little bit by the players around her, but she's gonna be key for us next year. Her role is so important as that defensive midfielder, from ball-winning to helping us keep possession, to connecting passes."
Let's not forget that Alabama will have a new goalkeeper, and the competition is between four players including Noelle Henning, who was the starting goalie for Canada's U-17 women's national team.
Similarly, Gemelli will have a chance to step into a key role, although a forward.
"Something we talk about a lot is that roles change," Gemelli said. "My role this season is going to be different than my role at my previous school, and that's ok. I'm not the same as the previous forwards, but we can still achieve the same things, just in different ways."
That is what it comes down to, achieving those goals, only this time the Crimson Tide won't be catching anyone by surprise. The expectations of a team that finished among the top-four in the nation will be high.
For Hart , the idea of Alabama having high or low projections is irrelevant. He's more concerned about the process and building his team the right way.
Thus, what this spring is really all about.
"If we win every game, those records and titles will take care of themselves," Hart said. "More important than focusing on results is doing the things that make us, us. The transitional moments — the hunting, the pressing — we led the country in goals scored last year so the attacking as well.
"We focus on those things and the results will come."
New players. New roles. New opportunity. Same mindset. That is what's next for Alabama soccer.
See also: Nick Saban Tells Favorite Mal Moore Story on the 10-Year Anniversary of His Passing
