As Alabama kicked off its 2018 season with a trip to Texas to take on TCU and North Texas over the weekend, head coach Wes Hart glimpsed a continuance of the progress he has witnessed over the last three seasons.

Entering his fourth year with the Crimson Tide, Hart carries with him a handful of seniors who have been the lifeblood of the squad crafted over his tenure. Nobody embodies the culture change Alabama soccer has undergone better than Emma Welch. A pacey left midfielder with an eye for goal, Welch has produced on the field and provided leadership off it.

From McDonough, Georgia, Welch began her career with the Crimson Tide during an exceptionally turbulent transitional period. Alabama, in search of the right head coach to make an impact on the team, spent several months under the lone direction of an assistant.

“It was just a lot for one person to handle,” Welch said. “There wasn’t really any direction; it was difficult to get practice going day to day because there was only one person heading it up.”

The lack of leadership forged a sense of self-accountability that can still be felt reverberating throughout these seniors. Their drive and commitment to excellence has been mirrored by the new talent coming in, a catalyst for the consistent improvement of results the team has recorded over the last three years. Welch personally used the opportunity to establish herself early within the Alabama team and cement her place in the new coach’s plans.

As a freshman, Welch asserted herself in the offense immediately, becoming the engine of the Crimson Tide’s attack. A set piece specialist, Welch handled the taking of free kicks and corner kicks for Alabama. She played in every match for the Crimson Tide – starting 17 of 19 – and led the team with four assists, the most by a freshman in program history. Welch became the first Alabama player to be selected to the SEC All-Freshman team since 2012.

“She’s had a great influence on the team since her freshman year, starting every game and playing well,” said senior defender Kayla Mouton. “Everyone knows that Emma Welch is our go-to player, and she’s been showing out ever since.”

Success continued for Welch throughout her sophomore and junior seasons, in which she led the team in assists in both successive years, all the while increasing her goal tally season after season. Welch has consistently been recognized for her performance as a student athlete, being named to the CoSIDA Academic All-American Third team, Academic All-District IV and All-SEC Second team.

Since her arrival, Welch has served as a model for freshmen coming into the team, demonstrating how student athletes should conduct themselves, both on the field and in the classroom.

Though her excellent personal results in both fields are well documented, Welch feels much more pride in the way the team as a whole has evolved over her time with the Crimson Tide.

“When I first got here, no one showed up to practice more than ten minutes early,” Welch said. “And I walk into practice now an hour and half early and people are just sitting in here doing homework, watching TV, joking around. Everyone wants to be here for the people in it and not just for soccer, which is really nice.”

Welch has been vital to the cohesiveness of the squad and the changing culture within the locker room. Selected as a captain for her final season, Welch plans to continue displaying the leadership that has defined her time with the Crimson Tide.

Though coaches can bolster teams in a variety of ways by altering tactics, recruiting talent and enhancing practice, the relationships and chemistry within the squad take the team to the next level. Captains function as the middlemen between the coaches and the team, crucial to the harmony that must endure for success.

“It is a family,” Welch said. “You have little fights every single day but at the end of the day you all know you love each other.”

These bonds have driven this Crimson Tide team through the last few seasons to incredible heights, seeing its record increase from a meager 5-12-2 in Hart’s first season to 12-8-1 last year and the team’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2011 and only the third in program history. The team’s 12 wins were the most recorded in a single season since 2002.

“My greatest memory is all of us sitting with the cameras when we made the NCAA tournament,” Welch said. “When I first got here that was not the goal. We had a long list of losing seasons and I never really understood why because we were a really, really good team.”

While Welch expects Alabama to post a strong record this season, she understands her lasting legacy has already been left on the program.

“The expectations are going high and now I know that once I leave it, the program as a whole, either way, has grown tremendously from the time that I first got here.”