Alabama Soccer Looks to Maintain Road Success at Mississippi State

The top-ranked team in RPI has done a major turnaround playing away from home.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — In terms of RPI, Alabama soccer has reached the mountaintop. The Crimson Tide earned the No. 1 ranking after defeating the defending Southeastern Conference Champion Arkansas Razorbacks 2-1 on Sunday.

Coach Wes Hart and company are impressive in many different facets during the historic season, but one area the Crimson Tide have improved the most is away from home.

Alabama's current road record is 6-1-1, with the loss coming against Miami the second game of year and a 1-1 tie coming against Utah — the best road record in the SEC. Since then, the Crimson Tide has won six in a row, but according to Hart, there is no secret to the success.

"I wish I could say there was one particular thing and that fixed it," Hart said. "Truth of the matter is we had some tough games last year against some tough opponents and we weren't able to get wins. This year, I don't know that we did anything different. It's not as if we travel differently or ate different meals or practiced something different.

"We just got a different group this year that's more confident, and I think wining a couple games early on, we just rode the momentum and carried that on."

Two of Alabama's three remaining games are on the road. First, it will travel to Starkville to take on Mississippi State for a chance to clinch the SEC West, then it will end the season in Auburn to face the Tigers on October 27th to wrap up the regular season before SEC Tournament play.