Alabama captured its first victory of the season with an emphatic 6-0 win over Kennesaw State on Sunday night. The match, which featured four different goal scorers, was a complete performance by Coach Wes Hart’s team.

“Tonight it was about being aggressive and when you’re aggressive defensively it sets the tone for being aggressive in the attack,” said Hart.

Alabama turned up the pressure early, pushing its backline beyond midfield as it looked to keep Kennesaw State pinned back in their own half. Making it difficult for the Owls to get a foothold in the contest, the Crimson Tide put a number of shots on target in the first minutes of the game, testing the hands of standout goalkeeper Tiffany Sornpao.

Beginning to see the results of its constant pressure, Alabama got onto the scoreboard when a loose corner found its way to the feet of senior defender Kayla Mouton, who smashed her shot home from six yards out.

The goal allowed Alabama to settle into the contest, but the Owls found ways of carving out counter attacks against the Crimson Tide’s extended back line, forcing a critical save out of sophomore Alex Plavin to keep Alabama’s lead intact.

Sophomore forward Chloe Maize went down with a knee injury midway through the first half that required her to be taken to the locker room. Hart was unsure of the current state of his attacking player post game, but said at the moment, “it doesn’t look good.”

Alabama went into halftime in terrific form after scoring twice within the final five minutes. Casey Wertz found net with a header on the far post from a Kat Rogers corner in the 40th minute. Then, in the 44th minute, Rogers, a freshman from Prosper, Texas, lined her own shot up and unleashed it from 30 yards out, tucking the ball in the top corner of goal.

The Crimson Tide began the second half exactly how they ended the first, with Rogers lashing another shot from outside the box, once again nestling the ball beyond Sornpao’s outstretched hands and into the top right corner of the goal.

“Today the team was moving really well and giving me opportunities and I was just lucky to be a part of it and be able to finish them,” said Rogers.

Alabama rounded off the night’s scoring with goals from Casey Wertz in the 67th minute and Taylor Morgan in the 77th. Abbie Boswell and Rogers supplied the assists.

Outshooting Kennesaw State 30-6 in the match, Alabama put 14 of those shots on target while only allowing one shot on target out of six from the Owls.

“Earlier games we’ve had problems with our back line, conceding a couple goals,” said Mouton. “But this game we were determined to win, we needed our shutout.”

The defensive effort was the biggest take away for Hart. The cohesiveness of his back line had been a question mark through the first few games of the season and a point of emphasis in training leading into the matchup with Kennesaw State.

“I was certainly pleased with our play but we knew we couldn’t shut off,” Hart said. “If our mindset wasn’t right or we took a break we knew that they could punish us. The shutout was very important to me.”

Rogers made all the difference for the Crimson Tide in the match. She recorded two goals in two shots and added two assists to cap off her performance. Her goals on each side of halftime killed off any momentum the Owls had been building, allowing the Crimson Tide to take any sting out of the game and coast to a win.

“We weren’t quite sure what kind of impact {Rogers} would be able to have this early.” Hart said “She made it evident during preseason though. After seeing her train a few times we all looked at each other and knew we had a good one. I think she’s going to be a heck of a player for years to come here.”

Alabama continues its seven game home stand on Aug. 30 when it takes on Virginia Tech. The Hokies are currently 2-0-2 on the year and are coming into the matchup against Alabama with back to back wins over UNC Wilmington and High Point.