Razorbacks in pole position for SEC title after Alabama win

No. 11 Arkansas rode two second-half goals from Vailana Tu’ua and Kennedy Ball to topple Alabama, 3-1, in the penultimate regular season home game. The Razorbacks regained sole possession of first place in the SEC with two games to go.

Teams receive three points for a win and one for a draw.

SEC Standings (SEC Record):

Arkansas is looking for its fourth SEC regular-season title since 2020.

The Razorbacks entered the game without one of their key members. Head coach Colby Hale was shown a red card in the team's 1-0 loss to No. 19 Georgia for arguing a potential penalty not given.

Hale served his one-game suspension Thursday while associate head coach Sammy Scofield filled in for the Razorbacks..

Scofield took head coaching duties for the first time in her career. The team tried its best to carry on like normal, but the hallmarks of a Hale coached game were inevitably missing.

"[Associate head coach] Jon [Harvey] and Sammy did such a good job," goalkeeper Evelyn Vitali said. "I could hear them and they know what they're doing. I had full faith in them, but it was definitely weird at half not having him [Hale] come in and say what he needed to say and have his little notebook covering on the sidelines up and down."

Vitali made three quick saves within the span of three minutes at the start of the second half to keep the game tied, 1-1. She made her sixth straight start with starter Keegan Smith still sidelined with injury.

The Hogs have continued to get more comfortable playing with their new goalie and appear to be peaking just as SEC play winds down.

"Stepping in kind of mid-season is really hard," Vitali said. "It's weird for everyone. You have to have a good relationship with your backline as a goalie. Each day in practice we've been able to work off with each other [and] learn. We've had a lot of open conversations about 'Hey, what do you need? What do I need?'"

Vitali's key saves allowed Arkansas scored two second-half goals to secure a win and bounce back from the Georgia loss. Tu'ua scored her team-leading fifth goal to give the Hogs the lead in the 63rd minute.

She calmly slid the ball past the keeper in the into the bottom left corner of the net.