RUSTON – The Bulldogs fell short to the Alabama Crimson Tide in Thursday’s season opener, 6-2, at Robert Mack Caruthers Field.
“We’re glad we got it in with the weather earlier in the day, but we are disappointed, and I’m glad our women are disappointed because there was more in there,” Bulldog head coach Steve Voltz said. “Watching our women walk off the field knowing there was more in there shows me that we’re on the right track. Again, when you’re playing an opponent like Alabama with players like that—obviously you’re going to take advantage of the mistakes we made. So, this is on us for providing too many mistakes. We did learn a lot about our group and the fight that’s in their group, and now how can we minimize those mistakes and take advantage of theirs. Overall, it was exactly what we needed to get out of this game. The result, we wanted a little bit more.”
The Tide opened the scoring early in the 10th minute on a header coming from a cross pass on the right edge of the 18-yard box before doubling their advantage just before halftime on a corner service turned into another header bounced into the lower left corner of the net.
Alabama jumped to a 3-0 lead just under four minutes into the second half before Tech would strike the scoreboard for the first time this season on freshman Reagan Roberts’ first career goal in her first career appearance.
The Prosper, Texas native took a pass at midfield and dribbled down to about 10 yards outside of the box before firing a shot to the lower left corner of the goal. The Crimson Tide goalkeeper attempted to squeeze the ball into her chest, but instead found the ball fall between her arms and roll into the net.
Alabama jumped back out to a three-goal advantage in the 61st minute, but Tech still let their presence be known as Madison Pensom scored her first career goal on a corner servce from Maeva Costenaro, who notched her first career dish.
The Crimson Tide closed out the match with goals in the 68th and 79th minute.
Pensom led the Bulldogs with three shots and two in frame with Roberts and redshirt junior Ashley Leonhart each adding two shots of their own. Freshmen Abby Hanton, Peyton Wiseman and Alexe Drolet each earned their first career starts along with junior Layla Thompson.
Roberts, Alexandria Weatherspoon, Lydia Daniels, Leyla Llanos Boursiquot and Carrigan Gekas also notched their first collegiate appearances.
