The bitter rivals from Knoxville fell defeated before the conquering Commodores. After allowing only 5 goals through the first 10 matches, 3 of which were SEC contests, the Tennessee Volunteers yielded thrice to Vanderbilt. A team that had allowed only 1.7 shots on goal per game would give up 7. They could only muster 4 of their own in front of their home fans.
The Volunteers were put under a lot of early pressure without giving up too many clear-cut scoring chances. It was proof their defense is
very good, if not quite as good as the weak nonconference schedule made them look. Then in the 14th minute a quick Tennessee attack down Vanderbilt’s right had a forward in behind everyone off a failed interception. Mary Beth McLaughlin made a lung-busting recovery run and fantastic slide tackle to cleanly dispossess the attack and ruin the chance.
Near the end of the first half, Sydney Watts left a couple good chances on the table. However, she would get Vanderbilt on the board less than 2 minutes into the second half. Courtney Jones chipped a pass to Mia Hebert, who earned her first college start in the match, who settled smoothly under strong pressure then slid the ball out to Adysen Armenta on the left win. Armenta zipped a cross along the ground to Watts for a bit of a lunging effort that hit the roof of the net for the opening goal.
Tennessee may have tied the match just a couple minutes later when Alexa Gianoplus was barged into trying to handle a cross and spilled the ball. The referee blew his whistle early for the Volunteer attacker running through Margo Matula and creating the goalkeeper contact. The announcers were saying they could not see a foul and that the official was wrong to blow his whistle early, which left the play unreviewable. I can agree with the latter, but the former was nonsense.
Gianoplus made another good diving save another couple minutes later. Then Hebert showed her craftiness again but spinning away from a defender and slipping a ball behind Tennessee’s only defender for Watts to tip around the goalkeeper and almost walk into the net.
The home side scratched a goal back in the 74th minute when McLaughlin was overly aggressive on a fake. Matula got pulled out of position to cover for her, and a rebound from a nice save was met first by another attacker. They also had the next shot of the game, but it was saved strongly by Gianoplus from a bad angle.
Megan Hinnenkamp scored a SportsCenter Top 10 deserving goal to restore the 2-goal lead and reach the final score line. Olivia Stafford beat a defender off the dribble and put the ball right inside the 6-yard box for Hinnenkamp to backheel into the goal. That skill is so quick and deceptive that no one in orange and white could react.
Again, frustratingly, no possession information. Still, holding a then-Top 10 team shotless in the first half is impressive. The corner kick advantage Vanderbilt has in almost every match is a testament to the aggressiveness of their wide players up and down the flanks. Every one of them loves to take defenders on in an effort to get to the goal line for cutback crosses. It is such a dangerous place to playmake from, especially with intelligent players like Watts and Hinnenkamp finding space while Jones runs in late along with the stronger aerial elements like Hebert and Alexis Smith.
It was a very short bench for a Sunday match in a two-match weekend, but the comprehensive beatdown of Ole Miss made it feasible to rest legs in that one to leave everyone fresh for the rivalry match Sunday. Coach Ambrose kept the pressure on Tennessee, and his players are fit enough to rise to the challenge. The depth Vanderbilt has is great, but the conditioning level is an underrated factor with how many minutes their best players can play at their top performance.
The focus shifts back home for another proximate opponent tonight. The Kentucky Wildcats come to West End at 6-4-1 (2-1-1 SEC) in terms of W-L-D. As an aside, I hate that they use W-L-D instead of W-D-L, and I want to buck the trend. It is not a battle I can fight alone though. Kentucky hammered Detroit Mercy (6-0) and Kent State (5-2) at home before heading up the rode to Dayton, Ohio to smack around the Flyers (5-0). They went back to Ohio, this time Columbus, and lost 2-1 to #7/#12 Ohio State. Back home, they pummeled Wright State 9-1 before dropping a pair of 2-1 results to Louisville then Bowling Green. The SEC slate started with a 3-2 home win over Texas A&M before going on the road to beat Missouri 2-1. The Wildcats then lost at #11/#11 South Carolina by a 2-0 score. Their most recent match, just like Tennessee last Sunday, was a scoreless draw with Mississippi State at home.
Kentucky’s prolific scoring has them at 33 goals for on the season with only 14 against. They are lead by the dangerous trio of Kyla Dawn, Nadia Ramadan, and Juliette Rayo. Dawn has 9 goals and 2 assists. Ramadan has scored 7 times and assisted once. Rayo has 6 tallies and also 1 assist. No other Wildcat has more than 2 goals and three players are tied at that mark. They also have no one with more than a pair of assists, but 4 other players join Dawn there.
In goal, Megan Holland has played all but 90 minutes and started every match. She has made 28 saves while allowing 14 goals and gives up 1.40 goals per 90 minutes played. Like every other goalkeeper Vanderbilt faces, I want to see how they do against the firepower the Commodores bring. Most teams also cannot suppress shots to help their goalkeepers against Vanderbilt the same way they do against everyone else.
Tonight’s match was set for a 6 PM Central kickoff, but has been delayed to 7 PM. The electrical activity has moved northeast beyond the requisite radius, but there was some HEAVY rain that has Vanderbilt’s grounds crew working hard to help the field drain. I am not sure how soft the ground will be. If the ground stays firm enough underfoot, that probably benefits Vanderbilt. As long as the surface is just slick but sturdy, it benefits the team who can be on the front foot and make the opponent react more instead of acting. If the ground underfoot is heavy and sloppy, which I doubt, it could play into Kentucky’s favor if they want to sit back and defend on a night where creativity and flair would be difficult.
Tickets for tonight are still available. It is the Pink Match where Vanderbilt honors breast cancer survivors and their families. If you cannot make it to the Plex, the match will be streamed on SEC Network+.
