The Emotional Ride That Was Alabama Soccer's Elite Eight Victory

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was an emotional night for Alabama soccer.

From being up 2-0, to the lead evaporating in almost an instant, to win it in overtime, Alabama's 110-minute performance in the Elite Eight was a dramatic one.

Multiple players were crying tears of joy after Alabama defeated Duke 3-2 to advance to its first College Cup in program history. It was a hard-fought win for Wes Hart and his team, and it showed in the passion the players played with and displayed after the game.

"It was just an emotional game," defender Brooke Steere said postgame. "We have so much on the line. To get to the Final Four is a crazy feat for a season."

The feat was accomplished, but not without the bumps and bruises that come with postseason play. Duke and Alabama combined for 38 fouls and six yellow cards (three for each team), and tension was running high between both teams.

What made Alabama players mad the most however, was not anyone on Duke's team: it was a referee.

Michelle Cooper is a dynamic forward for the Blue Devils who came into the game with 17 goals, and left with two more as she scored both for Duke in the second half. But on both scores, the Alabama defense (and fans) felt like the sophomore forward was offsides both times. 

The first goal got the players heated, but the overall mentality appeared to be "oh well, a missed call. Let's get back at it." It was the second goal that got the Alabama players' blood boiling, specifically goalkeeper McKinley Crone, who visibly chewed out the assistant referee for several minutes.

That was the most blatant one, but there was a healthy amount of chirping throughout the night. Head coach Wes Hart was asked about if and when would he interject in those situations.

"If I feel it's distracting them from our job, which is 'How are we gonna win the game?', I would sub them off or pull them to the side and tell them to refocus," Hart said.

But it's also not about taming the emotion for Hart. For him, he wants his players to embrace the emotion, which for Hart is a sign of a player's drive to succeed.

"If you're not passionate - if it doesn't bother you when a call goes against you, I don't know if you're the player for us," Hart said. "I want them to be passionate. I want them to get frustrated and discouraged. I want them to have these emotions, because that means that they care."

The passion that his players display is likely a reflection of Hart himself, as he touched on all the times someone advised him to be even keeled, and how he's rejected it again and again.

"As soon as I stop getting excited about scoring goals and winning games, I'm done," Hart said adamantly.

That embrace of emotion is what helped Alabama remain strong, because the emotion that led to frustration and discouragement, was the same emotion the team displayed after the second goal, when Felicia Knox and others are passionately rallying the team to keep fighting.

And the fight continues for Alabama soccer, who will head to Cary, North Carolina next week to compete in the College Cup.

See also: Alabama Advances! Tops Duke 3-2 For First-Ever College Cup

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