The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
3-3-1
Alabama
4-4-0
UAB Women's Soccer Team Defeats Alabama, 3-1
9/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
The Blazers (3-3-1) now lead the all-time series with the Crimson Tide, 4-2-1, and beat Alabama for the first time in Tuscaloosa. The Tide fell to 4-4 on the season with the loss. UAB will begin defense of its 2003 C-USA regular-season title versus Cincinnati on Friday, Sept. 24 at West Campus Field in Birmingham.
The two teams battled for roughly 40 minutes before either team scored, as neither Alabama nor UAB had many chances on offense. The Blazer defense held the Crimson Tide to just one lone shot in the first half, while UAB took three, scoring on two.
The Blazers broke the ice at the 39:11 mark of the first half as senior midfielder Jenny Rynders snuck the ball past Tide goalkeeper Laura Lowman into the left corner of the net following a corner kick. Briana McCarty picked up the assist on the goal, which was Rynders' second of the season.
"Well it was a very physical game and any time we play Alabama it is going to be physical," said Rynders. "We are always pumped up to play Alabama and we played well tonight."
Sophomore forward Laura Richards found the net at the 39:53 mark, as she knocked one in from the top of the box for a 2-0 UAB lead. Richards, who had entered the game just 42 seconds earlier, recorded her second goal of the season.
"Coach Harbin talks about being the difference and making a difference and that is all that goes through my mind when he chooses me to go into the game," said Richards. "I just go on and keep my head up and try to play my game and it helps me to just be able to make a difference."
"It felt good to go into the half with a 2-0 lead and we started to sort out at the end of the half a little bit of what we needed to do and one thing was to play more quickly and it paid off," said UAB head coach Paul Harbin.
"There are some times when our teams play a little bit different style of play and what happens a lot down here is we get sucked into the other team's style of play and it is very hard not to do that sometimes, so I was very pleased that we were able to regain our composure after getting sucked in for a little while early in the game," said Harbin.
"We knew that in the second half Alabama was going to turn it up a notch, certainly a 2-0 score in soccer is always one of the worst leads to have because if you get even a little bit complacent then all the other team has to do is score on goal and get back into it," said Harbin. "We sat the entire defense down before the game and showed them film just to show them what we needed to do and I thought they responded extremely well, and it is risky showing them film right before the game but they carried out their responsibilities."
Alabama took five corner kicks in the first period to UAB's one, but the Blazers' defense hung tough on each attempt as they yielded no points and just the one shot.
Freshman Jill Porto extended UAB's lead to 3-0 with her second goal of the season with 13:37 remaining in the match. Porto gained control of the ball following a Blazer corner kick and snuck a shot past Lowman into the back of the net.
The Tide would finally score with a mere 1:59 remaining in the game as forward Jordan O'Banion notched her sixth goal of the season to make it 3-1.
UAB totaled 11 shots to Alabama's 10, and had six shots on goal, holding the Tide to three.
"Coming to Tuscaloosa has always been difficult for our team and this is a difficult place to play and we have not won here in the past, so it is nice to come down here and get that win," said Harbin. "It is especially nice to get it against a well-coached Don Staley team, because he is always extremely well-prepared for us when we come in and they were today."
"I was impressed with a lot of what they did out on the field tonight and I think that they had a great plan going in and stuck with it and did a good job, so we were very fortunate to be able to get the win," said Harbin. "It is good to have succeeded against such a well-coached team."
"We are very gracious that Alabama and coach Staley gave us the opportunity to come down here so quickly and make this game up, and that is much-appreciated," said Harbin.
The Blazers will face C-USA rival Cincinnati on Friday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. at West Campus Field in Birmingham.
Team Stats
RYNDERS, Jenny
Assisted By: MCCARTY, Briana
off foul kick against empty net
39:11
RICHARDS, Laura (2)
Assisted By: BRAUER, Jana
from top of box
39:53
PORTO, Jill (2)
Assisted By: COONEY, Pam
made move around def.
76:23
Jordan O'Banion (6)
off thrown in, twisted in air
88:01
