Alabama falls to Ole Miss, defeats Utah Valley

Austin Hannon, Staff Reporter

Another weekend, another split for the Alabama women’s soccer team. The Crimson Tide faced off with the Ole Miss Rebels on Thursday, Sept. 16, and the Utah Valley Wolverines on Sunday, Sept. 19.

Ole Miss

The Crimson Tide left Oxford with a bad taste in its mouth following a 3-1 defeat.

Rebels forward Mo O’Connor put the home side up early in the 10th minute of action off a deflected shot.

Alabama answered in the 23rd minute when midfielder Kat Rogers crossed a ball into the box that was headed in by midfielder Kate Henderson her third goal of the year to even the game at one score a piece.

The final 10 minutes of the first half proved to be the difference between a win and a loss for the Crimson Tide.

After a foul in the box in the 35th minute on Alabama defender Tanna Sanchez-Carreto, Rebels middle forward Haleigh Stackpole converted a penalty shot to make the scoreline 2-1 in favor of Ole Miss.

Just before the halftime whistle, the Rebels floated a ball into the box, which was then headed through the net by midfielder Molly Martin. The score was 3-1 at half in the Rebels’ favor.

The Crimson Tide outshot the Rebels 12-8, including two more shots on goal, and Alabama held Ole Miss to its second lowest shot number on the season.

Utah Valley

Alabama shut out the Utah Valley Wolverines from the Western Athletic Conference 3-0 to wrap up its non-conference schedule.

Forward Ashlynn Serepca opened up the scoring in the 18th minute off a crossing assist from midfielder Allie Berk.

Serepca finished another crosser in the box, this time from forward Riley Tanner, to give Alabama the 2-0 lead.

“We have just been itching for chances,” Serepca said. “We create a lot of chances, but we haven’t been able to put them away quite yet. So it’s just exciting to see it fall into place.”

Midfielder Macy Clem placed a shot from outside the box just over the outstretched hand of the Wolverines’ goalkeeper in the 46th minute to extend Alabama’s lead to three goals.

Utah Valley had many chances down the stretch, including 10 shots, with six coming on net. 

Alabama goalkeeper McKinley Crone preserved the clean sheet.

The game got tense at times, with Wolverines forward Sadie Brockbank receiving a yellow card for shoving a Crimson Tide defender after the whistle. The match had a total of 18 fouls.

Alabama head coach Wes Hart said he was happy with his team’s performance before the rest of the SEC schedule.

“Good win over a quality team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year. They’ll win a lot of games in their conference this season,” Hart said. “Soccer is a bizarre sport. There’s been other games this season where we’ve had more chances and better chances and walked away with nothing. Happy that our players were rewarded for their effort and quality tonight. We will enjoy the win and shift our focus to Mizzou.”

The Crimson Tide, now 5-5 on the campaign, will face the Missouri Tigers (4-4) in Tuscaloosa on Thursday, Sept. 23. The Tigers lost their SEC opener at home against South Carolina. 

The game will be played at 7 p.m. CT on SECN+.