Soccer to Conclude Regular Season
10/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Oct. 30, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama soccer team (9-7-2, 4-5-1 SEC) will close out its regular season schedule on the road against rival Auburn (10-7-2, 6-3-1 SEC). The Crimson Tide will head to the plains and face the Tigers on Friday, Oct. 31 under the lights for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. The Tide is coming off a 2-0 loss to Georgia while the Tigers defeated the Tennessee Lady Vols 2-1 in overtime on Sunday.
Who to Watch: Four members of the Tide enter Friday's contest with double-digits in scoring. Senior Kailey Corken leads the way with a career-high 15 points on six goals and three assists. Senior Jessica Deegan closely follows with 12 points on four goals and four assists while sophomores Victoria Frederick and Brooke Rogers have tallied 10 points apiece. Rogers paces UA in points during SEC action with eight points on three goals and two assists.
Last Time Out: Alabama concluded its regular season home slate with a 2-0 loss to Georgia on Senior Day. Nine seniors played their final match in front of the home faithful. Georgia only got off five shots in the first half but took advantage of them by burying two in the first 20 minutes. Georgia out-shot the Crimson Tide 14-10, using a 9-5 effort in the second half to take the advantage. Alabama concluded its home slate with a 7-3 record. The Crimson Tide posted six straight shutouts and totaled seven at the friendly confines of the UA Soccer Complex.
Scouting Auburn: Auburn enters the last regular season match tied atop the SEC west division rankings with LSU. The Tigers do not hold the tiebreaker against LSU so they will need a LSU loss and earn a point to secure the title. Auburn sports a 10-7-2 overall record and a 6-3-1 SEC mark. As a team the Tigers have out-scored their opposition 34-20 and out-shot opponents 270-262. Auburn has come out of the gates quick by out-scoring its opponents 18-7 in the first half of play. Individually Auburn is led by Katy Frierson and her 25 points on nine goals and seven assists. Rebecca Howell has also reached the 20 point plateau on the strength of five goals and a team-leading 10 assists. In goal Allison Whitworth has played the majority of the minutes and sports a 9-7-2 record, six coming by the way of shutout. Whitworth has recorded 108 saves and has an 1.08 goals against average.
Alabama vs. Auburn: The Series Friday's meeting will mark the 17th time the two programs square off with AU holding the 8-6-2 advantage all-time. Auburn has won the last two matches and has posted a 4-2-1 record at home against Alabama. The two teams met last year in Tuscaloosa where the Tigers earned a 1-0. Alabama fell to Auburn in the plains in 2006 by the score of 6-1.
Bramble vs. Auburn: Alabama head coach Todd Bramble has faced Auburn just once in his head coaching career. While at Clemson Bramble and his Tigers fell to the Tigers of Auburn 2-0 in 2004. The match was played in Auburn.
Race to Orange Beach: The Alabama soccer team currently sits in eighth place in the overall SEC standings and is ranked third in the SEC West. Eight teams will make its way down to Orange Beach for the conference tournament. The last time Alabama played in the SEC Tournament was in 2004 when the Crimson Tide fell to Florida 2-0 on Nov. 3. Prior to 2004, the last time Alabama played in the SEC tournament was in 1998. If Alabama wins against rival Auburn they are in. If Alabama loses and Arkansas wins the Razorbacks are in. If Arkansas ties and Alabama looses the Tide would be in based on a tie-breaker against the Razorbacks.
Friday Night Lights: The Alabama soccer team has had great success under the lights on Friday nights. Of the nine wins on the season for the Tide, six have come on a Friday night. Alabama has won six consecutive Friday night contests. The last time Alabama won back-to-back-to-back Friday night SEC contests was in 2004. Overall Alabama sports a 6-1-1 overall record on Friday nights. The Tide has yet to lose a Friday night game at the Alabama Soccer Complex.
League Leaders: As a team the Crimson Tide paces the conference with eight shutouts. UA ranks second in saves per game with 6.39 and third in saves with 115. The Crimson Tide also checks in at number one in shutouts per game at 0.44. Individually, Kailey Corken ranks 10th in goals with six. A quartet of Crimson Tide players rank 10th in assists with four (Jessica Deegan, Victoria Frederick, Brooke Rogers, Kelsey King). Deegan also ranks sixth in shots with 46 and seventh in shots per game with 2.56. Rogers is eighth in shot percentage with a .633 ledger. In goal, Kara Gudmens is third in saves with 103, second in saves per game with 6.06, fourth in shutouts with six and fifth in shutouts per game with 0.35.
SEC Wins: In just his first season at the helm the Alabama soccer team has won four SEC matches under the watch of Todd Bramble. The four wins is the most by any Crimson Tide team since the 2004 season when the Tide won five league games. The four wins in just seven SEC matches is the most since Alabama won four in its first five in 1998. Alabama is currently ranked third in the SEC West Division.
Production Increase: Under the direction of first year head coach Todd Bramble several Alabama veteran players are having career years just 18 matches into the season. Seven players, five of which are upperclassmen have already set career bests in certain offensive categories. Senior Jessica Deegan has already bettered her all-time total of goals by finding the back of the net four times this season. She has also set a career season best with 12 points. Her previous best was eight points in 2005. Senior Kailey Corken has tallied a career best six goals this season. She found the net four times in 18 games in 2007. Sophomore forward Victoria Frederick and Brooke Rogers has dished out career-highs in assists with four apiece. Senior Jamie Zimmerman has also set a career best already this season with two helpers. Junior Kara Gudmens has bettered her career best saves output with 103 and has done the same in the shutout category with six.
Home Sweet Home: Alabama started off its 2008 home slate in impressive fashion as it did not allow an opponent to score in its first six home matches. The Crimson Tide opened its home slate with a 3-0 shutout victory over Jacksonville State on Aug. 31. Alabama goalkeepers Kara Gudmens and Karen Lansden combined to blank the Gamecocks. On Sept. 12, Gudmens held in-state rival Samford scoreless with her first shutout of 2008. Gudmens followed that up by blanking Wright State in double overtime on Sept. 14. UA then swept another weekend with shutouts over UTC (5-0) and Mississippi Valley State (1-0). Lansden earned her first shutout on the year against the Devilettes on Sept. 21. The last shutout of the streak came against MSU by the score of 1-0. Alabama had its streak snapped 25 seconds into the Ole Miss game. Alabama did not allow a goal for 555 minutes at home. The Crimson Tide has out-scored the opposition 15-8 in Tuscaloosa and has posted seven shutouts overall at the Alabama Soccer Complex.
Next Time Out: Alabama will wait for the dust to settle on the final day of competition to see if it will be packing its bags for Orange Beach. Play will begin at Orange Beach on Nov. 5.
