The Commodores battled to 2-0-0 on the season with a 2-0 win over the visiting Louisville Cardinals. Louisville was looking for a 2-punch of their own after knocking off Auburn, also on the road, but could not get any shots into Vanderbilt’s net. The early stages looked like the hosts could rattle off another dominant, high-scoring win, but the visitors did not capitulate and were actually looking more likely to score by the second half run of play.
The scoring started in the 12th minute when a hard
driven pass from Mary Beth McLaughlin was too quick for Sydney Watts to play. Olivia Stafford sprinted in behind everyone, picked up the loose ball, took a touch into the box, and dinked the ball into the net. VAR immediately intervened to check for offside, much to excitement of the Louisville fans and coaching staff, but ruled that the goal would stand, much to the chagrin of the Louisville fans and coaching staff. It was a very long review even though replays showed that Stafford was a full 3 or 4 yards onside.
The Commodores struck again 7 minutes later via Stafford in a different way. The freshman attacker got into the box on the dribble, cut the ball by a defender, and was tripped by a dangling leg. VAR was again called into action to review the PK. This call also correctly stood. Courtney Jones stepped up and slotted a cool finish into the bottom right corner. Then the attacking play was a bit stymied. Vanderbilt had scored from its first 2 shot attempts and would shoot twice more in the first half. Both were on target without providing much trouble for Erynn Floyd in Louisville’s goal.
At halftime, Vanderbilt had 4 shots with all 4 on goal while Louisville had 3 shots and had not put any on target. After the full 90 minutes, it had flipped to Louisville’s favor. They had 13 shots (3 on goal), and Vanderbilt had 8 shots (still 4 on goal). It was a cagey, nervous 2nd half. Some of that was likely due to the heat with conditioning not quite at its peak for either team yet. Both teams used 7 substitutes and most of them played 20+ minutes. It was a recipe for some sloppiness.
Louisville having the 51-49 possession percentage advantage is probably expected since they were trailing. Vanderbilt allowed them to too easily get into the attacking half though. Louisville had the ball in the Vanderbilt half for over a third of the match at 31 minutes. That is not a good way to maintain a lead. Thankfully, the Cardinals were not clinical and missed the net with 8 shots missing the net while 2 more were blocked.
Sydney Watts was quieter after her 8-shot (6 on target) outburst against Austin Peay. She was a focal point of Louisville’s stingey back line, and the first goal was a direct result of over-pursuit to her. Stafford has been impressive in the two regular season matches, and Jones is finding ways to still contribute from a deeper role in midfield. Reagan Pentz could not follow up her 3-assist debut with anything notable unfortunately.
The Commodores hit the road for the first time this season to start a weekend away from home but still in the state of Tennessee. Tonight, the buses head for Cookeville and a matchup with Tennessee Tech. Vanderbilt has won all 6 matches against TTU and have only conceded a solitary goal. That came in the only other meeting in Cookeville. The Golden Eagles have dropped a pair of 2-0 decisions. The first was home against Lipscomb, and the second was at South Alabama. The 2024 Golden Eagles were 6-8-6 (6-2-1) but had their season end with a dud when Morehead State went to Cookeville and bounced Tech in PKs after a scoreless draw. TTU missed (not saved, missed) all 3 of their attempts while Morehead State put all 3 of theirs away. It was a disappointing finish for a team that earned the #1 seed in the conference tournament and was playing at home against the 5-seed.
Tech returns 61% of their goals scored from 2024, but they do lose leading goalscorer Neve Renwick. Renwick was responsible for 10 goals and 2 assists. Katie Toney is back after scoring 7 goals and adding 3 assists. No other Golden Eagle scored more than 3 goals in 2024, so it is a top heavy attack with others sporadically stepping up to the task. Playmaking should be mostly in sync, too, since 65% of assists also return. It was even more lopsided with returner Lucis Cuadra setting up 9 goals while departure Skylar Williams assisted 5 times. Those two made up 61% of assists.
The attack gets a very interesting boost in prolific NAIA attacker Krista Eik Hardardottir. The Pavia suit beneficiary played 4 seasons at Tennessee Wesleyan and posted some silly numbers. She scored 27 goals and had 10 assists in 20 matches in 2024 to follow up a 2023 campaign where she scored 25 times and assisted 3 other goals in 19 matches. She has not played in either of the opening 2 matches though, so I am not sure if there is an injury or eligibility issue. Maybe that NAIA success is not translating to Division 1.
Defensively, the only player to start more than 10 matches in 2024 and not be on the 2025 roster is Bella Garrett. The Golden Eagles did allow 31 goals though, and the matches started statistics suggest there were either rampant injuries or consistent shuffling to find a more reliable back line.
Starting goalkeeper Maggie Conrad is back and looking to improve on 2024 where she allowed 1.52 goals per 90 minutes and had a save percentage of 0.760. Neither of those numbers are horrible, so the 30 goals allowed in 20 matches played likely goes back to poor defending. Conrad has played every minute so far in 2025 and been less efficient. She has allowed 4 goals on 11 shots for a 0.636 save percentage. The Commodore attack will likely give her a chance to show her abilities.
Kickoff from the Tech Soccer Field is 6:30 PM Central with a stream on ESPN+. Unfortunately, yes, you will have to have an ESPN+ subscription to watch this one, unlike the SECN+ broadcasts at home or other SEC schools. The Commodores should win this one comfortably even if the score line might not match the 7-0 drubbing of Austin Peay. They jumped 6 spots from #17 to #11 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and stayed steady at #12 in TopDrawer Soccer’s rankings. Looking less than convincing at Tennessee Tech will not help those rankings.
