Starting Tide defenders Abby Lutzenkirchen, Jordan Meier, Auburn Mercer, Maruschka Waldus and Molly Moroney have beat opponents out of the box for long stretches of time during matches.
“I think this year has been very good and effective,” Meier said. “We’ve been better at communication and just our overall organization. We’re on the same page this year, as last year we were all kind of individuals. We’re playing a lot better as a team.”
Meier said practice has become more intense and more focused on tactical drills. This week, the defenders worked on preventing set pieces, which was how Florida scored its two goals last week. Coach Todd Bramble said set pieces were Alabama’s Achilles’ heel Friday night.
“It’s simply how Florida won the game,” Bramble said. “And I wouldn’t even say they were brilliant set pieces on their part. We just failed to execute in those situations. It’s fundamental errors.”
With a strong emphasis on the defense this season, Bramble and his team have seen the hard work pay off. Emily Rusk, goalkeeper, accured 16 saves while only allowing six goals.
“I think defending for us is a team concept and I think all of our players right now have bought into what we need to do defensively, have a good understanding of what we need to do tactically and they are physically willing to go out and put the work in that it requires “cause that’s a lot of times what it boils down to,” Bramble said. “Because they have embraced that, it has made us a really, really effective team defensively right now.”
Alabama (5-3-1) travels to Tennessee this weekend to play Tennessee and Vanderbilt in its first SEC away weekend.
