Beginning the Southeastern Conference competition this Friday, the Alabama women’s soccer team rolled over visiting Mississippi State in Sunday’s 2-0 shutout. The weekend began with another 2-0 victory over Ole Miss on Friday, leaving the team with a 7-2 overall record on the season.

Although Sunday’s game remained tied at the half, Alabama picked up the pace in the 53rd minute of play with a goal by freshman Kendall Khana, her first in collegiate soccer. Another goal followed shortly afterwards by Brooke Rogers, clinching the win. Rogers now boasts six goals so far this year, a season record for the senior.

Head coach Todd Bramble sees the victory as the result of practice in maintaining possession.

“We keep getting better in the possession and attacking side of the game,” Bramble said.

The Tide outshot the Bulldogs by 2 goals in Sunday’s match but allowed 18 attempts on their own in the process. Bramble sees momentum changes as a key area in need of improvement for the Tide.

“There are periods where we need to minimize the opponent’s momentum swing,” Bramble said. “In every half, we give opponents too many chances. Once another team gets some momentum we need to be able to wrestle it back quicker than we have been doing.”

Momentum, Bramble feels, will be a key part of next week’s match against LSU. The Tide will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to face the Tigers, who have ousted them the past two seasons. Bramble sees the Tigers as the next major obstacle facing the team this season and is focusing his players on this match during the week’s practices.

“LSU has beaten us for two straight years,” Bramble said. “We cannot afford to look at any opponents beyond them right now.”

The Tide’s next home game will be on Oct. 8 against Florida at 7 p.m. in the Alabama Soccer Stadium.