Box Score TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – With 11 seconds remaining in Friday's in-state road contest against the Alabama Crimson Tide, Samford soccer player Amanda Abbott nearly scored a dramatic match-tying goal, but Alabama's Shelby Church made a diving save to uphold the Crimson Tide's 2-1 victory held at the Alabama Soccer Stadium.
 
“I thought we had a great chance to equalize there on Amanda's last shot, but her touch was a little wide and it lost momentum as it went to goal,” said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. “The match didn't finish like she or I wanted it to, but we'll bounce back from this, grow from it and get better.”
 
Samford (0-2) fell behind in Friday's match, 2-0, as Alabama (2-0) notched a goal late in the first half of play and then early in the second period. The Bulldogs dominated a majority of the second half and scored their first goal of the season in the 69^th minute to trim the Crimson Tide's lead to 2-1.
 
True freshman McKenzie Thomas, in her first collegiate match as a Bulldog, tallied Samford's score Friday as she chipped in a high, bouncing crossing pass from Trine Taule. On the goal-scoring play, Taule dribbled past a pair of Alabama defenders on the right side, lofted a spinning cross over to the left end of the box where Thomas fired a shot into the back of the net.
 
“I think McKenzie has the ability to score a lot of goals for us,” Yelton said. “As she gets more and more used to playing for us, I think she has the ability to do some special things here at Samford before it's said and done. She's going to get chances and as long as she works hard and puts in the effort, then the sky is the limit for her.”
 
Following Thomas' second-half goal, the Bulldogs gained even more offensive momentum. Samford more than doubled their shot attempts in the second half of play and kept the Crimson Tide on its heels for a predominant portion of the final period.
 
The Bulldogs rattled off three shots on goal in the final 45 minutes of play, including Abbott's final, near equalizing attempt in the final seconds.
 
Samford true freshman goalkeeper Jessica Perry finished Friday's contest with seven saves. She played extremely well in only her second career contest and staved off a season-high 26 shot attempts from the Crimson Tide.
 
Friday's attendance of 1,266 was the second largest crowd in Alabama school history.
 
“Alabama is a quality side, and I thought that in the first half we didn't handle it really well and we didn't have a great mindset,” said Yelton. “I think we started off a little nervous, but then I was really happy with how we responded in the second half. We can build from this and get better and I'm sure that Alabama is going to rack up a lot of wins in the future.”
 
With only 25 seconds remaining in the first half, the teams were seemingly heading into halftime tied at 0-0 before Alabama's Katie Bourgeois gathered a crossing pass from Meghan Duffy and one-timed a shot from five yards out into the back of the net.
 
The goal was Bourgeois' second of the season. The Crimson Tide's freshman forward from Katy, Texas, notched the game-winning tally in last week's 1-0 triumph over Kennesaw State.
 
“That was a tough goal to allow and we sort of lost focus there in the last minute of play,” Yelton said. “It's especially tough because that essentially proved to be the difference in the game.”
 
Until its last-second miscue, Samford's defense played valiantly throughout the first half of play. Despite constant pressure from Alabama, the Bulldogs' Perry made four quality saves in net and Samford thwarted 15 of the Crimson Tides 16 shots in the opening period of play.
 
Offensively, the Bulldogs' best first-half scoring chances came from sophomores Joy Grove and Abbott. Grove fired a key shot attempt from the right side that was deflected, while Abbott just barely misfired on a shot to the left of goal late in the period.
 
Just 12 minutes into the second half of play, Alabama's Theresa Diederich extended the Crimson Tide's lead to 2-0 as she scored off an assist from Ariel Armijo. It was at that point in the match that Alabama figured it would cruise to its second victory of the season.
 
Samford's Thomas then shifted the momentum of the match with her first career goal in the 69^th minute of action.
 
The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Aug. 31, at 7 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs will conclude their arduous three-match, season-opening road stretch against the 25^th-ranked Auburn Tigers to be held at the Auburn Soccer Complex.