The #10 Vanderbilt Commodores – stop me if you have heard that recently – go into the final day of the regular season with a chance to win the SEC Regular Season Championship. They could also finish as low
as 5 if my rough understanding of tiebreakers is true. Currently, Georgia is the leader in the clubhouse on 21 points thanks to a win earlier today. They were the only match to kick off before 2 PM Central time and are done for the regular season. Arkansas sits in second on 20 points. Vanderbilt is third on 19 followed by Tennessee at 17 then Mississippi State, who lost to Georgia today, and South Carolina, who Vanderbilt plays today, both on 16.
The Commodores are coming off an exciting 2-0 win over then-#4 Tennessee, who fell to #14 after a scoreless draw with Florida then the loss in Nashville. Vanderbilt got off to a hot start by scoring in the 9th minute through a freshman-to-freshman connection. Olivia Stafford cut by a defender down the right wing then lofted a cross beyond the back post to Reagan Pentz for the headed finish on her first goal as a Commodore.
The match stayed calm for a few minutes after the goal then became a frenzy. Starting in the 17th minute, there were 13 shots attempted in the final 28 minutes of the first half. They forced a combined 4 saves and 2 blocks. The shots during that segment were split 9 to 4 in Tennessee’s favor as they pushed to get back into the game, and Sara Wojdelko made all 4 saves necessary to keep them out.
The second half started on the front foot for Vanderbilt with them attempting the first 8 shots of the half before Tennessee finally fired in the 70th minute, only for it to be blocked before it ever reached the goal. Sydney Watts would then give the Commodores some comfort in the 82nd minute as she made a clever run to get in behind the Volunteers defense as Grace Freeman slipped in a through ball. Watts one-on-one with the goalkeeper was only going to end with the net bulging, and it proved to be the final goal of the match with Vanderbilt able to limit Tennessee from ever truly threatening again.
Vanderbilt attempted as many shots in the second half as Tennessee did for the entire match, which is particularly impressive when they were already leading. Typically, teams will sit back and be a bit more conservative while leading, especially when facing a highly ranked opponent. Coach Darren Ambrose kept the pressure on the rival throughout and got rewarded. Tennessee was surprisingly unable to generate much danger from their 8 corners.
Only using 3 substitutes was interesting. They only played a combined 65 minutes, so the starters were on the field for 93% of the minutes. The conditioning to play all of those minutes after having played on Thursday is very impressive. Sunday matches typically look more like Tennessee’s minutes split, where subs are used in short bursts to allow starters to rest then come back recharged. As a remind, NCAA rules allow players subbed off in the first half to re-enter at halftime while players subbed off in the second half can return once.
Pentz earned SEC Freshman of the Week for the goal along with her other midfield work in this match and Thursday’s 5-1 win at Mississippi State. Watts was rewarded with SEC Offensive Player of the Week for her 2 goals and 1 assist across the pair of matches.
This afternoon’s opponent is the South Carolina Gamecocks. As noted above, SC is trying to get to even in the standings with Vanderbilt. In a 2-team tie, the head-to-head result goes to the winner, so that would leap the Gamecocks over the Commodores since no one else can finish on 19 points.
South Carolina is 10-2-5 (4-1-4) on the season. They started the season ranked #21 and moved up to #10, including a win over Ohio State and draw at Clemson, before a loss at Georgetown knocked them back to #17. They got as high as #8 during SEC play but a 2-3 loss at Kentucky and scoreless draw hosting Texas A&M have them back to #17.
Their SEC slate has been at Alabama (2-1 W), vs Ole Miss (4-0 W), at Florida (0-0 T), at Oklahoma (2-0 W), vs Arkansas (2-2 T), at Auburn (1-1 T), vs Texas (5-1 W), at Kentucky (2-3 L), and vs Texas A&M (0-0 T). The late sputter is an eyebrow raiser that took them out of conference title contention for the regular season.
The most dangerous Gamecocks are Katie Shea Collins, Mackenzie Johnson, and Cuyler Zulauf. Collins leads South Carolina in both goals (10) and assists (4). Johnson is tied for second in both categories with 6 goals and 3 assists. Alexa Pino, who has not scored, does equal Johnson on assists. Zulauf is 3rd in both categories with 5 goals and 2 assists. There are 4 other Gamecocks with 2 assists. Taylor Bloom (3 goals) and Kinley Brown (2 goals) are the only other players with multiple goals.
Defensively, Gracie Falla, Taylor Bloom, and Micah Bryant are the constant presences for a unit that has only allowed 10 goals all season and limits opponents to 9.12 shots per game. Falla has played 1,500 minutes on the season, and Bloom is right behind her at 1,453 minutes. Bryant is third on the team among outfield players at 1,210 minutes.
In goal, Christina Tsaousis has started all but 1 match, an early season contest with Georgia State, and been very good. She has allowed all 10 of the goals against for a 0.64 GAA. She has saved 32 of the 42 shots on goal faced for a 0.762 SV% that is more than serviceable.
Kickoff has just been taken from Eugene E. Stone III Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. The match is broadcast on SEC Network but can also be streamed for a second-screen experience.
