At the water break in the first half, Alabama soccer and Troy were in a scoreless deadlock. After the timeout, coach Wes Hart inserted sophomore Gigi Schorr into the game, and she made an immediate impact in Alabama’s 5-0 win.
The sophomore wing-back and scored three goals, all which were her first career goals.
Her first goal came in the 35th minute. Forward Abbie Boswell caught the ball right outside the box, spun and found Schorr, who tapped the ball into the net. Her second goal came just six minutes later, when she launched a shot from right outside the box that bent passed the keeper.
“I wasn’t exactly sure that it was going to go in,” Schorr said. “I was really excited afterwards, and I was kind of shocked, honestly.”
Her last goal came in the 74th minute. Overall, she finished with four total shots, three of which were on goal.
Alabama soccer history was made in the 48th minute. Boswell caught a pass from freshman Riley Mattingly and fired into the net. The pass that setup Mattingly’s touch to Boswell came from Emma Welch for her 20th career assist, which broke Libby Probst’s record from 2005.
“I had no idea (about the record) until someone told me at the very beginning of the season,” Welch said. “After a couple games in, it didn’t happen. I was kind of sad, but at the same time, I was like, ‘It’s an assist. I can’t do it all myself.’ … I was hoping it would happen at home and it did, so I was really excited about that.”
She added her second assist of the game 15 minutes later, when she flipped a pass over the Troy backline and Boswell dodged the keeper for an easy walk-in goal.
The turning point in the game was that first water break. Before the break, Alabama had fired only three shots, with only one on goal. At halftime, the Crimson Tide was up two goals and put two of its four shots on goal.
The win extends Alabama’s winning streak to five games. During that span, Alabama has outscored its opponents 22-2. The Crimson Tide also has three shutouts on the season now.
Alabama hosts Ole Miss on Thursday for its first SEC game of the year and the last of its seven-game homestand.
