A ruthless attack powered Vanderbilt by Mississippi State in Starkville on Thursday. Goals in the 5th, 14th, 36th, and 38th minute gave the Commodores a 4-0 halftime lead. They had scored on 4 of their 7 shots on target and had only put 3 shot attempts off target. The scorers were, in order, Maci Teater, Grace Freeman, Sydney Watts, and Vivian Akyirem. The second half was more subdued with just 5 shots attempted, but the efficiency stayed with only 1 missing goal and 1 otherworldly Courtney Jones
freekick finding the back of the net.
The Bulldogs offered a little resistance in the second half by shooting 7 times in comparison to the 2 first half attempts. Still, only 2 shots were on target including one goal. Interestingly, possession was only 51-49 in Vanderbilt’s favor. They actually trailed in possession by a flipped margin in the first half. The key was quick, incisive attacks. Mississippi State played a high defensive line and was repeatedly beaten by through balls down the flanks.
Even with the similar methods of attack, it was a very diverse attack by personnel. Only Watts and Akyirem had multiple goal involvements, and both had 1 goal and 1 assist. All but 1 goal was assisted, and that was Jones’s free kick from miles out that you need to see to appreciate.
The big win combined with South Carolina losing to Kentucky moved Vanderbilt into 4th in the SEC. Tennessee drew with Florida to bring the Commodores within a single point of their rivals. The 4th seed in the SEC Tournament gets the last first round bye, so a win today would be a huge step towards that goal.
The #4 Tennessee Volunteers are coming to town to face your #21 Vanderbilt Commodores. The in-state rivalry has a big match feel and postseason implications, both for the conference tournament and NCAA Tournament seeding.
Tennessee is 11-1-3 (5-1-2) on the season. Their lone loss was at Mississippi State in a 3-2 contest. The Volunteers nonconference schedule included a 2-0 home win over #18 (was #1 at time of the match) North Carolina, a 1-0 road win over #21 UCLA, and a 0-0 road draw at #20 Memphis. After the SEC-opening loss at Mississippi State, the Volunteers won 2-0 at Missouri, 2-1 over LSU, 1-0 over Texas A&M, 2-0 over Georgia, and 4-1 at Ole Miss. They have had scoreless draws in their last two matches, which were at Oklahoma and hosting Florida.
Tennessee averages 2.13 goals per game while only conceding 0.33 goals per game. They outshoot opponents 14.2 to 8.7 with shots on goal going 6.5 to 2.9. Their defense has teams only putting 33.1% of their shot attempts on target. I am not sure if that is just good defensive pressure that makes it hard to get shots through or if that is a function of teams settling for bad shots against a stout defense.
The goals tend to come from Alivia Stott, Jenna Stayart, Shae O’rourke, and Kate Runyon. Stott has 6 goals. Stayart and O’rourke each have 5 goals with Stayart also assisting on 3 more scores. Runyon has 4 goals. They are most often setup by Ally Brown and Mac Midgley who each have 4 assists. Brown also has 2 goals while Midgley has a single tally. Luciano Latino and Dakota Brown also have 3 assists with Latino having scored once.
The stingy back line is backstopped by Cayden Norris. The sophomore started 4 matches in 2024 and has fully claimed the starting job with 14 starts this season. She has allowed only 5 goals for a 0.37 GAA by making 35 saves for a 0.875 SV%.
Kickoff today is at 4 PM Central. Today is the Pack the Plex match with raffle giveaways for a sign ball, replica jersey, signed goalie gloves (I REALLY hope those were washed because oh boy will they stink), Lululemon gear, and more. After a windy and rainy morning, the precipitation appears to have cleared, but it will still be windy with gusts up to 30 MPH. The match will be televised on ESPN2 or can be streamed here if ESPN2 is in your provider package.
