The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Goodwin Reflects on Back-to-Back Conference Titles
3/23/2020 10:30:00 AM | Rifle
BIRMINGHAM - The UAB rifle team accomplished something only two other Blazer athletics programs have done in program history: winning back-to-back conference championships.
The path to two consecutive titles began when the rifle, football and bowling programs were reinstated in 2015.
"I was elated when when I learned that the three sports that were cut were actually being reinstated," head coach Lori Goodwin said. "Once that happened, we made a plan to start shooting two types of guns. Up to that point, we had only been shooting air rifle, so we made the transition to become more competitive with the other schools.
Before the 2018-19 competition season, the Green and Gold had never won a conference title, having finished fourth the previous season. However, Goodwin could tell that the the squad was different from previous years.
"I knew that group was special from the start," Goodwin said. "Their instant bonding and
striving to make each other as great as they could be was evident from the start of the season."
Having been involved with the UAB rifle program since its inception in 1993, in addition to serving as the head coach for the last 24 seasons, winning the Blazers' first conference title in program history was an incredible achievement for Goodwin.
"Words cannot truly express the feeling of winning our first conference championship," she said. "It was surreal for a while before it sunk in that we had actually won."
With its first trophy in the case, the UAB rifle team turned its attention to this year, the 2019-20 season with expectations of claiming the top spot in the SoCon yet again.
"Expectations for this year were to do it again from the start," Goodwin said. "We had already proven that they could do it. We just needed to work hard and go after it."
After a slow start, the Blazers rattled through their conference schedule, finishing a perfect 7-0 in league matches going into the conference championship meet.
"The team was very nervous going into this championship," Goodwin said. "They knew they could do it, but the other teams were not going to make it easy for them. After they won the smallbore portion, they had a boost in their confidence level. They stayed together as a team the whole time and encouraged each other the whole match."
With many strong teams in the SoCon this season, including No. 19 North Georgia, 20th-ranked UAB claimed victory in this season's conference title match by just four points, a relatively small margin of victory.
"I could not be prouder of this team," Goodwin said. "They have overcome so much adversity and really dug down deep to be on top. The schedules and demands as student athletes are hard for all of them and to watch this team succeed on the range with their peers is an amazing thing to see."
In the end, the team looked at their second consecutive SoCon title as a representative of the Green and Gold.
"All they wanted to do was to share it as a win for UAB," Goodwin said. "One for all of UAB."
For more information about the UAB rifle team, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_Rifle), Instagram (uab_rifle) and Facebook (@UAB.Rifle)
