The Commodores bounced back from a bad loss at Texas to pick up a hard-fought home win against Auburn on Thursday. I was unable to watch the match due to my “real” soccer job coaching high school soccer. The lone goal came in the 13th minute via an Olivia Stafford cross to Sydney Watts. Auburn’s goalkeeper Ayana Yapo had sprawled to claim the cross, and Watts redirection beat her with a little help from a deflection off an Auburn defender. Maci Teater had started the attacking opportunity with a great
diagonal ball in behind Auburn’s back line for Maci Teater. Then the match went 77 minutes without another goal for a 1-0 Commodores’ win.
It was seemingly an even contest. Vanderbilt attempted 1 more shot but put 3 fewer on target. The shots by half breakdown reveals the halftime adjustments by both teams flipped the script. In the first half, Vanderbilt attempted 9 shots versus 2 by Auburn. In the second frame, it flipped 8 to 2 in Auburn’s favor. Every Commodore kick was taken in the first half while every Tiger corner kick was in the second half. Furthermore, first half possession was 72-28 in Vanderbilt’s favor, so the second half possession would have been 52-48 with Auburn having more of the ball. That suggests the hosts were content to keep the ball without needing to get into the attack too eagerly as they protected a 1-goal lead.
Alexa Gianoplus got the start in goal as Sara Wojdelko served her suspension from the red card against Texas. She was very good. Half of her 6 saves were worthy of posting to Twitter by the team. It was a bit surprising she started since Kennadie Marchand had been the one called upon to replace Wojdelko after the red card.
It is good to see Pentz back in the starting lineup after her substitute appearance against Texas following two missed matches against Arkansas and Oklahoma. That leaves, to my knowledge, just Adysen Armenta on the injury list. She has not played since the Middle Tennessee match on September 7th, and the Commodores are really missing her out wide.
Vanderbilt is back on the road today. They take on the Kentucky Wildcats have compiled a 9-3-1 (3-1-1) record. Their nonconference slate was very soft, and they dropped both matches against major conference opponents. They fell 1-2 to Illinois and 0-2 to #21 Ohio State. The wins were over Jackson State, West Georgia, East Tennessee State, Detroit Mercy, Purdue Fort Wayne, and Mercyhurst.
In SEC play, the Wildcats have beaten Oklahoma 2-1 in Lexington, fell to #17 Georgia 0-1 in Athens, beaten Missouri 1-0 in Lexington, beaten Alabama 2-1 in Lexington, and tied Florida 1-1 in Gainesville.
The Wildcats, likely aided by their weak schedule, have been a prolific scoring team (31 goals) and only allowed 9 goals against. The most common goalscorers are Alexis Tylenda and Anna Sikorkski, who each have 6 goals. Tylenda has 4 assists while Sikorski has 3 of her own. Catherine Rapp and Tanner Strickland have the most assists on the team at 5. Rapp has tallied 5 times herself while Strickland has a pair of goals. Thalia Morisi and Gabriella Poretto each have 3 goals without an assist. Skye Leach with 2 goals is the 7th and final Wildcat with multiple goals. Only Tylenda, Sikorski, Rapp, and Strickland have setup more than 1 goal.
In goal, freshman Khadijah Cissé has started all but 2 matches this season and has played every minute since the conference schedule started. The other two starts went to fellow freshman Megan Holland. Notably, all 3 goalkeepers on Kentucky’s roster are freshmen. Cissé has been very solid. She boasts a 0.741 GAA and a 0.720 SV%. Of course, she has only faced 25 shots on goal for the entire season. Vanderbilt should test her early and often to see if the success is more about protection than her ability.
The Wildcats youth is also evident in their back line with redshirt sophomore Katherine Truitt, freshman Gabrielle Poretto, and sophomore Anna Sikorski all over 950 minutes. Of course, Sikorski’s goal output makes me wonder if that roster position listing is accurate. She could be a free kick specialist, or just been given license to go forward against the weaker opponents.
Kickoff from Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington, Kentucky, is at 12 PM (noon) Central time today. The match will be streamed on SEC Network+. With 5 regular season matches to play including today, Vanderbilt sits at 8th in the SEC standings. They have earned 7 points with their 2-2-1 SEC record and are tied with LSU for 7th. Kentucky and Georgia are just ahead of them on 10 points, so a win today ties Vanderbilt with Kentucky. South Carolina is on 11 points then it is THEM on 12. Arkansas and Mississippi State are on top at 13 points. The road in is very difficult with Missouri (T-12th on 3 points) the only team not ahead of the Commodores while State, THEM, and South Carolina are the final 3 opponents.
