After falling 4-0 to Florida State last Sunday in Tallahassee, the UA women’s soccer team returned home to win back-to-back games in Tuscaloosa. 

On Friday night, the Crimson Tide defeated the Lamar Cardinals 3-1, and on Sunday afternoon, the team beat Southern Miss 3-2. 

The Lamar Cardinals came to town on Student Tailgate night at the Alabama Soccer Stadium, and fans were in for a treat.

The Cardinals jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a breakaway goal by Isela Ramirez in the 25th minute. Alabama responded with a header by Kate Henderson in the 35th minute. It was Henderson’s second goal of the season, and Alabama took the 1-1 score into halftime.

Henderson would score again in the 62nd minute to give the Crimson Tide a 2-1 advantage. Just seven minutes later, Allie Berk netted the first goal of her collegiate career to extend the lead to 3-1 where the game would finish.

Lamar only got two shots on net. The Crimson Tide had 11 chances at goal.

After the game, Alabama head coach Wes Hart said the team responded after a challenging first half.

We came back and got the goal just before halftime, which I thought was big,” Hart said. “And then going into the second half, our message to the team was that ‘we don’t need to change anything.’ We’re doing the right things, we’re creating chances. We just have to find the back of the net, and thankfully Henderson got us the second goal of the game, and then Allie [Berk] got the insurance goal at the end.” 

Hart said he hoped to get some starters more rest with the quick turnaround on Sunday, but it didn’t affect the Crimson Tide’s performance in the first half against Southern Miss.

Alabama scored twice in the first 55 minutes on goals from Bella Scaturro and Ashlynn Serepca. Serepca’s goal came on a penalty after a foul in the box.

The game shifted quickly beginning in the 64th minute when the Golden Eagles scored two goals in one minute on the leg of Ilana Izquierdo.

Heavy rain from Hurricane Ida approached in the final 20 minutes of the game. With the rain pouring down, the two teams moved to overtime. In the 107th minute, Felicia Knox put the Crimson Tide over the top with a walk-off goal.

The game on Sunday was a more even match, with the Golden Eagles attempting seven shots on goal to Alabama’s 10. Alabama received three yellow cards in the game, and Southern Miss received two.

Hart said he was proud of his team’s hard-fought win in the rain.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the team for grinding it out and finding a way to get the result,”’ Hart said. “We looked tired today. There weren’t enough players moving for one another, which made it hard for us to keep the ball. I thought some of our best soccer was played early in the second half. But as the half wore on and into OT, we looked spent. We will take the win and focus our attention to a very good Samford team on Thursday night.”

Alabama will take on the Samford Bulldogs on Thursday, Sept. 2 at the Alabama Soccer Stadium at 7:00 p.m. The game will be viewable on SECN+.