After a heartbreaking loss against Maryland to close out nonconference play, the 5-1 Alabama women’s soccer team will look to bounce back strong at No. 22 Tennessee in their first conference game of the season.

Coming off a successful nonconference slate, head coach Todd Bramble believes the team is prepared and ready for the challenges that await in conference play this weekend.

“We’ve played a variety of level of opponents and a variety of styles of play,” Bramble said. “It’s given us an opportunity to spend an extensive time working on our possession game, our attacking game and, most recently, having to defend a strong Maryland team, and I’m really pleased with everything we have learned about ourselves up to this point.”

The Crimson Tide will need to be at its best against a tough Tennessee team whose only loss this season so far was a one-point loss to No. 2 UCLA. Bramble said it will be important for the team to remain mentally and emotionally tough in order to be successful this weekend.

“When you go on the road against conference competition, which ramps the level of play up a bit, it’s important to see how mentally tough and emotionally tough we are as a team,” Bramble said. “That will get put to the test this weekend in a way that hasn’t happened yet this season.”

Even with the pressure of playing against a rival SEC opponent on the road, the team is staying focused on its own game this week in practice, with the coaches not even mentioning Tennessee until Wednesday’s practice.

“We like our team enough where I think we can continue to really focus on ourselves,” Bramble said. “If we can play up to our potential, we want it to be a situation where the other team has to deal with us. If we spend too much time talking about the opposition, then at some point, that message starts to look like the coaching staff is more worried about our opposition than the confidence in ourselves. I think our players know fully what they are getting into when they go up to Knoxville.”

Bramble said the team is looking forward to the road test and believes a strong result will give them a lot of confidence entering the rest of conference play.

“This will be our biggest test to date,” Bramble said. “If we go into Knoxville and are successful, then it will give us a lot of confidence heading into the rest of the season. We are looking forward to the challenge and we are going to enjoy the weekend.”

The game will kick off at Knoxville at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 14.