Tide Soccer to Travels to Mississippi for SEC Competition
10/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
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The University of Alabama women's soccer team hits the road for the final time in the regular season as the Tide (7-6-1, 0-3-1) travels to the Magnolia State for showdowns against the Ole Miss Rebels (12-2-0, 3-1-0) and the Mississippi State Bulldogs (7-6-1, 1-3-0).
With only five matches left in the season, the Tide is faced with a "do or die" situation with regards to their post season dreams.
"We're going to have to play with a sense of urgency," said Alabama Head Coach Don Staley. "We're entering the West division race and we're going to have to battle, scrap and claw for every little thing we get."
So far the Tide has yet to scratch the win column in SEC play; however they did play to a scoreless tie with the Vanderbilt Commodores in their most recent outing, a result that was quite favorable according to Staley.
"We're encouraged by our play against Vandy," said Staley. "It was the best soccer we've played all year. Now we'll focus on the positives that we took from the Vandy match and put them into effect this weekend with priority number one being putting more balls in the back of the net."
The Tide will need to be more offensive when they take on the Ole Miss Rebels Friday night. Currently Ole Miss ranks sixth in the country with nine shutouts and is ninth in GAA (0.50).
"(Ole Miss) is loaded right now and they're definitely the team to beat in the SEC West," said Staley. "This has always been a good, spirited rivalry that started the first year they had soccer."
The Tide leads the all-time series between the two schools 5-4, although the Rebels have closed the gap in recent years having won three of the last four meetings.
Bama will closeout the weekend with a Sunday afternoon date with the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville. While the Tide owns a 6-1-1 record against the Bulldogs, only two matches in the series have been decided by more than one goal and last year's meeting between the two schools ended in a 1-1 tie.
"The history between us and Mississippi State has always been about nail biting matches," said Staley. "Mississippi State gets up for Alabama. (MSU Coach) Neil McGuire has done a wonderful job taking that program to new heights."
Heading into the weekend Alabama is led offensively by sophomore Libby Probst and senior Dawn Nash who share the team lead in points scored with 16. Probst leads the team with seven goals while Nash is the team leader with four assists.
Tide keeper Laura Lowman is coming off her ninth career shutout last weekend which moved her into a tie for third place on the Tide's all-time shutout list.
Bama and Ole Miss are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff while Sunday's match with Mississippi State will begin at 1:00 p.m. Fans can follow the action all weekend at www.rolltide.com with a radio broadcast of Friday's match and live stats from both matches.
