From Special Reports
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — The University of Alabama women’s soccer team saw its run at the Southeastern Conference tournament come end Friday night with a 2-1 loss to No. 23 University of Florida in the semifinals at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.
The loss drops the Crimson Tide to 10-8-3 on the season.
Florida (16-6) will play seventh-seeded Auburn University, which defeated third-seeded University of Tennessee 2-0 in the first semifinal of the day, at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
“It was a good game,” Alabama coach Todd Bramble said. “Florida is a great team, and I’m just proud of how our team battled tonight. It was a very even first half, and I think they took the game over a little bit in the second half, but once they got the goal, I was proud of how we fought back. We tried to manufacture a couple of chances at the end to tie it up again.”
Lindsay Thompson scored in the 81st minute to give the Gators the win.
Alabama scored the first goal of the match on a corner kick that was set up by junior defender Ashley Willis. In the 33rd minute, freshman forward Pia Rijsdijk buried a Janea Simpson pass that was created on a pass into the box from Willis.
Forty seconds later, Erika Tymrak broke through the defense and buried a close look from seven yards out to tie the match.
Florida outshot Alabama 19-7. Justine Bernier had eight saves for the Crimson Tide.
With the loss, Alabama falls to 11-15 and 4-11 in the Southeastern Conference, while Florida improves to 18-5 and 11-3.
Kayla Fitterer had a team-high nine kills for Alabama. Andrea McQuaid had eight. Stephanie Riley led the team with 26 assists.
The Alabama men lost 151-149 after the 18 point swing in the 100 backstroke, while the women fell 175.50-124.5.
The Head of the Hooch will be slightly different for the Crimson Tide this year. In the past, Alabama has only rowed the Saturday portion of the regatta, but this year they will both days.
The Crimson Tide will continue playing at both tournaments today.
In doubles, junior Alexa Guarachi and sophomore Mary Anne Macfarlane took down Georgia’s Chelsey Gullickson and Lilly Kimbell 8-4 in the first round of consolation at the Indoor Championships.
At Memphis, senior Courtney McLane and junior Antonia Foehse collected a pair of wins, first against Tulsa’s Michelle Farley and Maria Sant’Anna 8-0 followed by a 9-8 (4) victory against Arizona’s Susan Mc Rann and Hailey Johnson. Senior Taylor Lindsey and freshman Emily Zabor also competed in doubles Friday, losing to Memphis’ Natasha Marks and Kim Stubbe 8-2.
Foehse posted a 6-0, 6-1 decision against Ole Miss’ Paige Keating, Zabor topped Tulsa’s Isaura Enrique 6-7, 6-3, 6-7, and Lindsey earned a 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 victory against the Rebels’ Iris Verboven.
McLane lost to Memphis’ Alyssa Hibberd 6-4, 6-1.
At the National Indoors, Macfarlane lost to Texas A&M’s Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar 7-5, 6-3.
MSU
Oklahoma’s Peta Maree Lancaster defeated Petra Ferancova 6-2, 6-4, and teammate Mia Lancaster beat Olesya Tisgvintseva 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Dion and Tsigvintseva lost 8-3 in doubles to Nicole Long and Lancaster.
Set scores were 25-19, 25-22, 25-20.
MSU claimed the earlier meeting, knocking off then-No. 25 Kentucky 3-0 before an MSU and state collegiate record 4,535 fans Oct. 14 at Humphrey Coliseum.
Kentucky (22-4, 13-2 Southeastern Conference) outhit MSU (10-14, 5-10) .265-.115 and had a 45-31 advantage in kills. The Wildcats also had a 13-7 edge in blocks.
Junior right-side hitter Faith Steinwedell paced MSU with 10 kills, sharing match honors with UK’s Ann Armes.
Senior Caitlin Rance added eight and teamed with Steinwedell to account for 18 of MSU’s 31 kills.
Hillary Parker paced the Bulldogs with nine digs. UK’s Stephanie Klefot had a match-high 14 digs.
MSU will play at No. 16 University of Tennessee on Sunday.
Ole Miss
Set scores were 25-18, 25-14, 25-21.
Kara Morgan added eight kills in her homecoming as the Columbia, S.C., native helped push the Rebels (9-14, 5-10 Southeastern Conference) to their fourth-straight victory.
Ole Miss will play at 2 p.m. Sunday against No. 17 Florida.
Jordan, who has a 4.0 grade-point average in exercise science, was named to the District 6 First Team. She will now be placed on the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration.
SEC
Earlier in the day, Boxx teamed with Abby Guthrie to reach the semifinals of the doubles consolation. The 19th-ranked duo rallied to defeat Marie-Pier Huet and Whitney Ritchie, of Oklahoma, 9-7.
In action featuring Mississippi State and Ole Miss, MSU’s seventh-ranked tandem of Louis Cant and Malte Stropp defeated Idaho’s Marius Cirstea and Andrew Dobbs 8-3.
In Pensacola, Fla., sophomore Zach White lost to Vicente Joli-Viera 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of qualifying action at the USA F30 Future.
For Ole Miss, Jonas Lutjen and Johan Backstrom lost to the 13th-ranked Nebraska team of Christopher Aumueller and Benedikt Lindheim 8-5.
Junior Colleges
Earlier in the day during the tip-off game of the two-day, Northwest Florida State College-hosted tournament, the EMCC Lady Lions opened their season with a 60-59 loss to preseason No. 2-ranked Pensacola State College.
Sophomores Millaun Brown and D.J. Evans each had 10 points for EMCC.
Former Noxubee County standout Jeraldine Campbell had a team-high 22 points for the Lady Lions in her collegiate debut. Transfer guard Alvida Clemons and sophomore backcourt mate Chadisty Hickman, of Kemper County, added 12 and eight points, respectively, for the EMCC women.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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