April 9, 2015, was the day University of Alabama athletic director Bill Battle announced the hiring of Wes Hart as the Alabama soccer coach. When Hart took the job he knew the team would face some growing pains, and frankly some losses, but as he approaches the one-year anniversary of his hiring, Hart said he sees light at the end of the tunnel.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be all roses from day one, there was going to be a learning curve and tough times,” Hart said. “With just how much we have grown in the past few months as a team, and with the recruits that we have been able to add to the players we already had here, I just think the future is really bright here.”

Coming off a 3-1 victory over SEC foe Mississippi State in the second spring game of the year, Hart said he is very pleased with how the offense looks.

“I thought we played really quite well,” he said. “The biggest and most exciting thing was the number of chances we created and not only did we create chances, but we were able to finish them off.”

The next spring game on Friday against Troy, and the team would probably like to finish with a similar result. Sophomore’s Chatham DeProspo and Lacey Clarida both scored goals against Mississippi State and are also pleased with the offense’s performance against Mississippi State.

“I just think it was exciting because everything that we had been practicing on, looked good in the game,” DeProspo said. “It looked put together and it was clean.”

With the loss of senior Abby Lutzenkirchen, Hart said the team is taking it upon themselves to be leaders. He hasn’t named a captain yet, so a number of girls are taking leadership roles at different times.

“I think that everyone is stepping up even the freshman,” DeProspo said. “Not just one person has to be the leader, everyone knows their role and when they need to step up and be a leaders.”