TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- Two of the premiere SEC teams battled it out on Thursday night, but ultimately one hand to emerge victorious. The newly fifth ranked tide prevailed, with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Georgia bulldogs.
Due to potentially harsh conditions caused by hurricane Ian, the match between the crimson tide and the bulldogs was moved up to Thursday night from the originally scheduled Friday night. Both teams responded well to the sudden schedule change, displaying great effort in the match.
Just like in most games this season, Alabama absolutely dominated in the attacking third, keeping pressure on the Georgia defense for what seemed to be almost the entire first 70 minutes of the game. The tide’s heavy offensive pressure can be shown in the stats with the tide forcing 19 shots (five on goal) compared to the bulldog’s seven shots, only one of which was on goal. The crimson tide also forced a whopping 10 corner kicks to Georgia’s three. Corner kicks have been crucial this season for the tide, as they have had much success scoring off of set pieces including a goal off of a corner kick Thursday evening.
The tide got on the board first with a Riley Tanner shot from outside the 18, using an assist from Riley Mattingly Parker. They followed it up in the second half with a header from Ashlynn Serepca off a corner kick assist from none other than Felicia Knox. This was Knox’s division 1 leading 12th assist on the year, which is also an Alabama program record.
Georgia scored off an Alabama own goal in the 72nd minute, cutting the tide’s lead to just one. This sent the game into a bit of a frenzy for the last 18 minutes but the Alabama defense held strong, helping the tide secure their fourth SEC win of the season.
This was by no means the tide’s most dominant performance of the year, but it was enough to get the job done and improve to an impressive 11-1-1 record on the season.
Alabama will be back in action next Thursday, hosting Ole Miss after a well deserved week off.
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