A grueling soccer match on Sunday came down to a pair of penalty kicks as the Ole Miss women’s soccer team made its penalty kick and the Alabama team fell 1-0. The loss drops the Crimson Tide to 6-3-1 on the season and 1-2-1 in SEC play.
“I’m extremely disappointed; [this game was] uncharacteristic of us,” head coach Todd Bramble said. “I just feel we underperformed in today’s game. I think if we could have come out much better in the first half, we wouldn’t have found ourselves in this position.”
Overall, it was an atypical performance for the Tide, who came out slow in the first half and failed to convert on any of their 19 shots in the game.
The decisive moments of the game occurred early in the second half, when forward Kendall Khanna was fouled in the box after getting around two defenders. Sophomore forward Theresa Diederich, who was four for four on penalty kicks last year, missed the resulting penalty kick, and five minutes later, the Rebels were able to finish their own penalty kick to give Ole Miss a 1-0 lead.
The Tide had multiple chances to tie the game late, missing three close shots in the final eight minutes, including a powerful shot from freshman midfielder Merel Van Dongen that soared over the crossbar.
“We had the opportunity to win, but we didn’t, and that’s pretty painful,” Van Dongen said. “I hope we learn a lot from this game, to just put it away in the first half, instead of putting ourselves in a difficult position.”
It was the second straight Sunday game the Tide struggled in after getting a draw against LSU last weekend. The heat on Sunday afternoons, coupled with the lack of rest the team gets after their Friday games, makes Sunday games a little more challenging.
“It will be important to improve on our Sunday mentality and [do] what it takes to win,” Bramble said. “I thought we came out way too conservatively today, especially playing at home. We have played two Sunday games in a row. We have come away now with a tie and loss, and I think we are better than that.”
With the team heading into a four-game stretch, senior defender Ashley Willis said it will be important for the team to bounce back strong from the loss and continue to work hard in the next couple of weeks.
“We’ve just got to keep going, and we can’t let this define us because there is a lot of the season left,” Willis said. “We can only build off this and use this as motivation going forward.”
The Tide will travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt Friday, Sept. 28.
