The women’s soccer team experienced defeat for the first time over the past week, as the team fell to Memphis on Friday before playing New Mexico to a 0-0 draw on Sunday.
“This weekend was a huge learning weekend for us,” senior defender Carly Mygrants said. “I think we were finally able to put certain elements into play. It’s games like these that we want to learn from. If we make mistakes now, it helps prepare us for SEC play.”
The team lost on Friday against Memphis 1-0. Memphis outshot the Tide 14-11.
Alabama would go scoreless again against New Mexico on Sunday in a game that ended in a draw after double overtime.
The game against New Mexico started off at a slow pace for both teams.
“It seemed like today we didn’t feel it on the ground so much, but the wind was a bigger factor,” head coach Todd Bramble said. “When we look at how the game unfolded, it seemed the team with the wind at their back got a ton of the territory, more chances, the shots and the momentum.”
After the first half, Memphis led 8-2 in shots on goal.
Bramble said the momentum changed in the second half because of a change in the lineup at halftime.
“When you talk about team effort, we got contributions from quite a few people today that played well that weren’t in our starting lineup,” Bramble said. “That’s always a good sign. At this time in the year, we’re trying to develop the depth of our team. Today was a great match for us to gain ground in that area.”
The team had a lot of opportunities during the game, including a breakaway by freshman Laura Lee Smith during the second overtime, but the team was not able to find the net.
“We’ve got to make sure when we get back to training this week that we don’t have any frustration creeping in coming out of this weekend,” Bramble said.
Memphis had 17 shots, while the Tide only had 12. Tide keeper Justine Bernier made eight saves, while New Mexico keeper Kelli Cornell made three saves.
“[Bernier] is a fifth year senior and has world class goalkeeping ability,” Bramble said. “She was there when we needed her today. I’m really happy with her performance as our goalkeeper.”
Mygrants said she feels the team has doing well so far, but they want to take advantage of their opportunities.
“We definitely know what our strengths and weaknesses are,” Mygrants said. “We know each other very well and know how to play together as a team because of that.”
Mygrants said the team is looking forward to playing other SEC teams.
“If we’re just using this weekend as a measuring stick to see if we’re closing the gap on the top 30 teams in the nation, the answer is — yes we are,” Bramble said. “There’s no doubt about it that these games are going to prepare us for SEC play when we start back.”
