BamaCentral At The College Cup: Day 2

An early afternoon conversation with two Alabama players and a stop by the mall wrap up the second day in North Carolina.

Mason Smith | Dec 1, 2022

CARY, N.C. — It was a rather busy day in North Carolina for the Alabama women's soccer team. As I left the team hotel after talking to Gianna Paul and Brooke Steere for a story, several of their teammates were sitting in the lobby to head to the stadium.

Head coach Wes Hart and the squad had an afternoon light practice session to get to, and several of the players, including Riley Mattingly Parker, McKinley Crone and Felicia Knox, among others, participated in a photo and video shoot for promotional purposes (it was exclusive to ESPN - my attempt at attending was quickly halted).

Nevertheless, it was a bust afternoon for the Crimson Tide as there is only one more day before Friday night's semifinal matchup against UCLA.

But what was cool to see was how Paul and Steere - one a true freshman and one a medical redshirt - had a bond during the interview, playing off each other's answers and laughing for a good portion of it. The funniest moment came when I asked them about a funny off-the-field story, along with warning them that the answer would go in tomorrow's story, and Paul reacted saying "We are the wrong ones to answer this question."

It was then where I found out that Paul, Steere, Carys Hall and several other teammates are a makeshift choir. Not really a choir, but a group that took a catchy melody and made it a call-response thing, usually during practice and warmups.

It was great seeing the team be loose, but it's even more impressive knowing the joyous emotion of today will be replaced with a killer mentality tomorrow, one that will be on full display against the Bruins.

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