TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Freshman Isela Ramirez scored in the 25^th minute to give Lamar University an early 1-0 lead, but unfortunately the Cardinals were held off the board for the rest of the game as Alabama rallied for a 3-1 victory Friday night at the Alabama Soccer Complex.
 
"Alabama is a very good in possession, so we had to be very disciplined in our defending," said LU head coach Steve Holeman. "I thought we did well with our game plan to get them on a counter. At the end of the day, they did a nice job of breaking us down, but I was proud of our effort and our willingness to fight until the end."
 
Alabama is a team Holeman is familiar with due to his time coaching in the SEC. The Cardinals marched into Tuscaloosa and carried the fight to homestanding Crimson Tide. After a scoreless contest through the first 24 minutes, Ramirez broke the tie when she scored on a breakaway from seven yards out. It was her second goal of the season.
 
Alabama answered with the equalizer less than 10 minutes later when Kate Henderson scored on a pass from Aislin Streicek.
 
The game would be deadlocked at one heading into the intermission and would remain that way for the first 17 minutes of the second half. It was at the 62:26 mark when Henderson netted her second goal of the game to give the Tide their first lead. Unfortunately, Alabama would tack on one more goal seven minutes later to push their lead to 3-1 which was the final goal.
 
Big Red must now put the setback in the rearview as they travel to Jackson, Miss., Sunday for a 1 p.m. game against Jackson State.