FORT WORTH, Texas – Playing a man down over the final 36 minutes, Alabama fell to TCU, 1-0, on Friday night at Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium in the season-opener for both teams.
TCU’s goal came at the 87:52 mark when Kayla Hill converted a header off a pass from Tijana Djuricek. The victory didn’t come without controversy, however.
With the game knotted in a scoreless tie in the 54th minute, the Horned Frogs had a breakaway in which starting goalkeeper Alex Plavin attempted to stop. The TCU forward collided with Plavin, who was given a straight red card, forcing the Crimson Tide to finish the match with 10 players on the field for the final 36-plus minutes.
“I’m disappointed with the result, but incredibly proud of our fight tonight,” Alabama head coach Wes Hart said. “We played a solid first half. It was a very competitive game. But the red card decision by the ref really swung things in TCU’s favor. We did our best to hang on over the last 36 minutes, but just fell short. We will let this one sting for a bit and then we need to move on. We’ve got a tough game on Sunday vs North Texas.”
Alabama was led by senior Abbie Boswell, who collected a team-high three shots on the night, two of which came on frame. Plavin made four saves before exiting, while redshirt freshman Kaylee Hammer, who came in for Plavin after the red card, made three stops in her 35:40 in the net before suffering the loss. TCU owned an 18-5 edge in total shots and a 10-1 advantage on corner kicks.
The Tide will close out its two-game road swing to start the season when it takes on North Texas on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
