The Missouri Tigers women’s soccer team hosted the Alabama Crimson Tide this afternoon at Audrey J Walton Stadium.
Today’s game was highlighted by the Pink Out theme as the Tigers sported pink jerseys and accessories in honor of breast cancer awareness. Heading into today’s matchup the Tigers were on a four game losing streak since their conference opening 3-1 win over Texas. Missouri failed to score in all four of their losses on the streak and sat in 13th place in the SEC with a 1-4 conference record and 4-7-1 overall record. Coming into the game Alabama was ninth in the SEC with a 2-3 conference record and 8-4-1 overall record. Alabama was also coming off of a losing streak, after losing their last two games.
The last time these two teams played each other was in Tuscaloosa last season where they drew 1-1. It was a physical game with five yellow cards being shown between both teams and a smothering offensive performance by Alabama. In the last 10 times these two teams have played each other Missouri is 4-5-1, and 2-3 when playing in Columbia.
With both teams trying to bounce back from tough losses in the last few weeks and a competitive history between the two teams, it was looking to be a great matchup.
The game started with Alabama taking quick control and pressuring the Missouri defense, as Missouri struggled to keep possession. Alabama opened the scoring quickly, as in the fifth minute Kiley Kukan raced down the far sideline and crossed a ball into the waiting Larkin Thompson who swept the ball into the far low corner for the first goal of the game. The goal marked Thompson’s seventh of the season putting her level with Gianna Paul for the top scorer on the team. The Crimson Tide kept their momentum and scored again just over a minute later, pressuring Missouri off of the kick off with Cameron Silva finding the bottom corner on a put back attempt from the edge of the box.
Down 2-0 in over seven minutes at the beginning, things were not looking great for the Tigers, as they were struggling to deal with the high-powered offense of Alabama which is a top-five scoring offense in the SEC. The Tigers did manage to generate some chances in the first half and keep things tight after giving up those two goals early on. The Tigers managed 2 shots on goal and kept the possession split nearly 50/50, while also earning four corners in the first half. But the team failed to convert any of their chances, ending the half trailing 2-0. The second half saw the game become increasingly more physical as three yellow cards were handed out, two to Missouri players and one to an Alabama player. The Tigers were more aggressive coming out of the half and put some pressure on the Crimson Tide defense, yet the team failed to score despite their six total corners and five shots on target. The game was capped off with a third goal from Alabama in the ‘87 minute by Melina Rebimbas, who was the lone scorer for Alabama in the team’s matchup last season.
The Tigers fall to 4-8-1 overall and 1-5 in conference play, while Alabama climbs to 9-4-1 overall and 3-3 in conference play. Following the game head coach Stephanie Golan commented on the team’s recent struggles, “I mean we gotta figure some things out, because we’re not getting results with what we’re doing now. We have to take a step back and reevaluate to see what we might want to change moving forward to put a few in the back of the net.”
The team will look to bounce back Friday as they travel to Nashville to play No. 24 in the nation Vanderbilt at 7 p.m.