The overcast beginnings gave way to a downpour, similar to how the minutes ticked by as the score remained unchanged. The gloominess of the rain foretold the outcome of Thursday’s match.
“It’s extremely hard [not going into the postseason] because it’s certainly not the standard that we set for ourselves and this program,” coach Todd Bramble said. “It makes for a very long and difficult offseason.”
The Alabama soccer team closed out its season losing to Auburn 1-0. The Crimson Tide also lost all chances of going into the postseason and ended the season with a 6-12 record including 4-7 in the SEC.
The Crimson Tide had the opportunity to go into the postseason if it had won or tied against Auburn, but Alabama was unable to tie up the game after a late first half goal.
The one and only goal of the night hit the back of the net with only 37 seconds of the half.
“I thought we had control the first half and just let an easy goal in,” sophomore Abby Lutzenkirchen said. “They defended more, and we had to push all of our players up to get a goal, and they got lucky we couldn’t finish it.”
After Auburn scored its goal, Alabama tried to tie it up but was unsuccessful. Alabama outshot Auburn 18-9 with four of those shots coming on goal. Junior Pia Rijsdijk had a wide-open chance in the 89th minute but shot it wide.
For the second straight year, Auburn took home the Iron Bowl of Soccer trophy, leaving Alabama in the dust. Alabama has lost to Auburn in eight of its last 10 match-ups.
“It’s always not fun to lose, especially to Auburn,” junior Laura Lee Smith said. “All we can do is learn from this experience and build on it for next year.”
Bramble said this game was a good example of the season.
“It feels like this game is a microcosm of this season in total,” Bramble said. “It’s been a rough ride the whole way through.”
Looking back on the season, Bramble said he had hoped things would have been different.
“I’m very surprised,” Bramble said. “I certainly didn’t see this coming. I had a lot of confidence in this team, and it’s just one day defensively we wouldn’t be good enough, and then the next game offensively we wouldn’t be good enough. This team never got fired on all cylinders. And we’ll have to figure out why in the offseason.”
Alabama will have most of its team return next year, though it will lose seniors Molly Atherton, Sophie Campise, Shelby Church and Kendall Khanna.
