The SEC Quarterfinal got off to a wild start in the 12th minute. Alabama put together a passing combination at the top of Vanderbilt’s penalty area. Nadia Ramadan played the ball in to Larkin Thomason then burst past Vanderbilt’s defenders who collapsed on Thomason. Losing sight of Ramadan was punished as the ball was immediately played through to her for a simple finish that left Sara Wojdelko helpless to prevent a goal against.
The Alabama advantage would last approximately 2 minutes as a through
ball to Sydney Watts pulled goalkeeper Madi Munguia outside the penalty area to defend. Watts won the race to the ball and fired a shot that Munguia instinctively saved with her hand outside the box. She was correctly whistled for the infraction and shown a red card for an intentional handball on a shot towards goal. The ensuing free kick was lofted in by Courtney Jones and headed home by Olivia Stafford.
With the score level and an extra player, the Commodores settled into a comfortable rhythm of possession. The statistics are maybe a bit misleading because Vanderbilt would get the go-ahead goal early in the 2nd half.
Watts received a pass with her back to goal and holding off a defender. She spun to the outside with her first touch and ripped a low, hard shot across the goal. Replacement goalkeeper Coralie Lallier was only able to get enough of a hand on the ball to keep it out of the goal but left it slowly rolling across the goal mouth. Reagan Pentz was ready and was first to the ball to knock it home.
It would be the final goal of the match and sent the Commodores through to the Quarterfinals in the SEC Tournament.
Possession being so close is a bit interesting with the man advantage for 76 mintues. However, holding a lead with 40 minutes to play also plays a part. Vanderbilt was able to play comfortably in possession while also not having to dive in to dispossess Alabama. They allowed the Crimson Tide to have some time on the ball, but numbers behind the ball meant there were not many forays into the Vanderbilt penalty area. Wojo made all 3 saves required of her in the second half.
It was a short bench again with a little more rotation due to how the game unfolded. Vanderbilt was able to play a little more low-effort due to the extra player, so that could be a leg up over today’s opponent who had to play extra time in their match.
Courtney Jones leading the team in shots was partially due to how Alabama defended with 10. They were also sinking back, so she took some chances from distance but never quite found the special strike.
The Dores did enough to advance though. For some reason, the SEC flips the teams who played in the earliest 2 Quarterfinals to play the later Semifinal while the teams from the later 2 Quarterfinals player the earlier Semifinal. The first Semifinal today was between 8 seed Mississippi State and 5 seed LSU at 3:30 PM Central. LSU won 3-1 with MSU going down to 10 players in the 29th minute.
The Georgia Bulldogs stand between Vanderbilt and the Tournament Final. Somehow, the Commodores have not played either of their conference tournament opponents in the regular season. They played 10 SEC matches, so they have now accounted for 13 of the 16 teams in the league.
Georgia averages the 4th most goals scored per game in the SEC at 2.06 goals per game. Vanderbilt is 1st at 2.18 goals per game. The Bulldogs are also 4th in goals against at 0.72 goals allowed per game. Vanderbilt is 2nd at 0.47 goals allowed per game. Georgia is a bit lower against conference opponents with just 1.8 goals per game while allowing 0.9 goals per game. Vanderbilt has also scored 1.8 goals per game but is still better with just 0.6 goals allowed per game.
The most dangerous Bulldog is Summer Denigan. She has 11 goals and 1 assist all season and has netted 4 times against SEC foes. She is the only Bulldog with more than 2 goals in SEC play. Kiera Staude has tallied 6 times on the season but only once in SEC play. Cate Hardin is the lead playmaker with 4 goals to go with a single tally of her own.
In goal, Hannah Folliard has started all 19 matches. She has allowed 14 goals for a 0.78 GAA and made 38 of 52 saves for a 0.731 SV%. She was named to the SEC All-Freshman team. Folliard also made the clinching save in the penalty shootout to determine who would advance after the Kentucky-Georgia match was tied all the way through regulation and both extra time periods.
Kickoff was scheduled for 6 PM Central time but with LSU-Mississippi State not finishing until 5:50 PM, there may be a slight delay. The match will be broadcast and streamed on SEC Network.
