Sunday night was supposed to be a joyous occasion at Alabama Soccer Stadium, as the No. 16 Crimson Tide honored seven seniors for their contributions to the program. But the Mississippi State Bulldogs had other plans, handing Alabama its first home loss since 2021 to put a damper on the evening.
The Crimson Tide outshot the Bulldogs 13-9 and dominated time of possession. The team had countless opportunities, with forward Gianna Paul and midfielder Nadia Ramadan in particular both having multiple great looks at the net.
It didn’t matter. After a scoreless first half, junior forward Aitana Martinez-Montoya put the Bulldogs ahead in the 62nd minute. That effectively shut the door on an Alabama comeback.
“It’s kind of a conservative team,” Alabama head coach Wes Hart said of the Bulldogs. “They get a lot of numbers behind the ball. They’re good defensively. Them scoring that [first] goal kind of hurt us. It allowed them to sit back more.”
For the final 30 minutes the Crimson Tide tried in vain to pull off a comeback. But its hopes were officially dashed just 10 minutes later when sophomore forward Maggie Wadsworth netted her fourth goal of the season.
It was just the fourth time that the Crimson Tide has allowed multiple goals this year. Fittingly, those were the only four games the team has lost this season.
Despite the loss, Hart didn’t seem all that upset.
“I don’t know that I would ask a whole lot different,” Hart said of his team’s performance. “We created more chances tonight than we did in some of the early season games. You know, when we were getting some results early in the season.”
Bulldogs senior goalkeeper Maddy Anderson, a multi-time SEC Defensive Player of the Week, was spectacular, recording six saves while completely shutting down an offense that put up four goals in its last home game.
Marianna Annest, Itala Gemelli, Felicia Knox, Gessica Skorka, Dylan Pixton, Tanna Sanchez-Carreto and Kate Henderson were the seven seniors honored pregame.
Of the seven, six were a part of last season’s historic College Cup team. Despite the loss, which ended a program-record 28-game home unbeaten streak, there is confidence that the team can make it back.
“Obviously we’ve got a great team and we are able to do great things,” Knox said following the loss. “And I think that will make a deep run in both [SEC and NCAA] tournaments. And I just think that we don’t need to make any adjustments. … We’ve played really well together and we’ve got each other’s backs and we’re going to come out fighting no matter what.”
Alabama now heads to Columbia, Missouri, on Thursday for a matchup with the Tigers in the season finale. Missouri is mathematically eliminated from the SEC tournament, while the Crimson Tide is looking to secure a first-round bye. The game will start at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network.
