OXFORD, Miss. – The Alabama soccer team tied the Ole Miss Rebels, 1-1, at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium on Thursday. This marks the Crimson Tide’s second draw against an SEC rival, as both teams earn one point towards conference play.
Alabama started the game with a strong offensive performance. Junior Casey Wertz led the Tide creating three notable good looks for scoring opportunities but could not find the back of the net. The Ole Miss Rebels were the first to get on the board in the 19th minute with a long shot by Julia Phillips. Despite the lone goal, Alabama fired seven shots and had one corner kick opportunity.
The Tide continued to fight aggressively and found the equalizer within the last minutes of the half. In the 83rd minute, Gabby Duca earned her third goal of the season from a cross by Wertz, initially tipped by Rebels goalkeeper Ashley Orkus, but continuing on to bounce into the net.
The squads continued to battle through two overtime periods, both unable to break the tie.
“Playing on the road in this league is not easy,” Alabama coach Wes Hart said. “I loved our response coming out of halftime. We had some great moments in the second half and felt we could have scored a couple goals. Their goalkeeper made some huge saves. We kept at it and eventually were rewarded. It would have been nice to get out of Oxford with three points, but we will take the point and move on to the next.”
The Tide outshot the Rebels, 20-17 with 11 shots on goal. Freshman Carlee Giammona led the team with six shots, followed by freshman Serena Pham with three.
The Crimson Tide and the Rebels both earned five corner kicks.
Freshman goalkeeper AJ Crooks collected five saves throughout the match, including a huge save during the second overtime period to keep the match at a stalemate. Crooks was named SEC Freshman of the Week earlier this week.
This is the first time in series history Alabama and Ole Miss concluded in a draw. Alabama trails the series 8-17-1.
The Crimson Tide will travel to Columbia, Missouri, on Thursday, Oct. 24 to face Missouri. Alabama will later host Auburn on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 1 p.m.
