Soccer Falls to Harvard, 6-4, in First Loss of the Season

Sunday, September 6

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

1 p.m. CT

Alabama

7-1-0, 0-0-0

Harvard

3-2-1, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Harvard	2	4	6
Alabama	2	2	4

Alabama soccer players huddle pregame vs. Harvard (Sept. 6, 2026)

Soccer Falls to Harvard, 6-4, in First Loss of the Season

9/6/2026 6:16:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

The Crimson Tide played with 10 following a first-half red card, endured a lengthy lightning delay

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama soccer took its first loss of the season Sunday afternoon at the Alabama Soccer Stadium, falling to Harvard, 6-4.

Alabama (7-1-0) jumped in front of Harvard (3-2-1) by two with goals from Ashley Roni (19') and Kennedy Garcia (24') in quick succession before the Crimson erased the shutout with a score of its own in the 24th minute. In the 36th minute, a yellow card assessed to the Crimson Tide was reviewed and upgraded to a red card, forcing Alabama to play with 10 players for the remainder of the game. Harvard soon took advantage of the mismatch, tying it in the 39th minute as the teams eventually went into the locker room at 2-2.

Larkin Thomason's sixth penalty kick of the season gave the Tide a brief 3-2 advantage in the 52nd minute before Harvard knotted the score back up about a minute later. Harvard earned its own penalty kick opportunity in the 56th minute, taking a 4-3 lead just as lightning in the area forced the teams off the field for nearly two hours before play could be resumed. A Harvard goal in the 83rd minute made it 5-3 before Melina Rebimbas brought it back within a score with her first goal of the season less than a minute later. The Crimson moved back ahead by two with a late goal in the 87th minute, which ultimately proved final as the Tide lost, 6-4.

From Head Coach Wes Hart

"I was actually very pleased with the start. I thought we came out flying and that was kind of what we challenged our group to do. I thought in the last game we let Samford take it to us, so we challenged the group and I thought they responded well. We had the two-goal lead and then we just had some bad decision making. We were a little overaggressive in the box, we had some silly challenges and that red card was kind of a back breaker. Down a player against a quality side like Harvard is not easy. I don't fault the effort or even some of the play quality but ultimately bad decision-making is what did us in."

Highlights

Despite the loss, Alabama's 7-1-0 start still matches the 1994 season for the best in program history, with that team going on to win its ninth game to improve to 8-1-0
The four goals scored by Alabama as well as its six allowed are its most this season
Larkin Thomason improved her team lead with her seventh goal of the season, which also marked her sixth penalty kick goal to improve to 6-for-6 on the season
Ashley Roni's goal was her sixth of the year, while Kennedy Garcia's was her second and Melina Rebimbas' was her first

Scoring Summary

19' | Ashley Roni got the Tide on the board with her sixth goal of the year (1-0)
24' | Kennedy Garcia received the ball after it ricocheted off a Harvard defender to send it into the net (2-0)
24' | The Crimson erased the shutout less than 30 second later (2-1)
39' | Harvard evened the score (2-2)
52' | Larkin Thomason connected on her sixth penalty kick goal of the year (3-2)
53' | Harvard's Brooke Huleatt tied the game (3-3)
56' | The Crimson took the lead following a penalty kick (3-4)
83' | Huleatt's second score of the game put the visitors ahead by two (3-5)
84' | Melina Rebimbas' first goal of the year cut it to one (4-5)
87' | Jasmine Leshnick scored Harvard's final goal of the game (4-6)