Vanderbilt Commodores (1-2-0)
vs.
South Carolina Gamecocks (2-1-0)
Oct 11, 2020 • Noon
Vanderbilt Soccer Complex • Nashville, Tenn.
ESPNU
Mike Watts (play-by-play), Cat Whitehill (analyst)
• After two weeks away from home, Vanderbilt returns to West End on Sunday for a matchup with the South Carolina Gamecocks at noon on ESPNU.
• This will be the 29th all-time meeting between Vanderbilt and South Carolina (Vanderbilt leads 14-7-7).
- First Meeting: 09.08.95 (W, 3-0)
- Last Meeting: 11.07.19 (L, 0-2 in SEC Tournament)
- Last Vanderbilt Win: 10.16.15 (2-1, OT)
- Last Opponent Win: 11.07.19 (2-0 in SEC Tournament)
- Last Draw: 10.13.19 (0-0)
• Though South Carolina won the last meeting in the 2019 SEC Tournament, each of the previous two regular season meetings have ended in scoreless draws with South Carolina ranking inside the top 10 on both occasions.
• Under Darren Ambrose, Vanderbilt and South Carolina have gone to overtime four times in six meetings. The 2017 meeting in Columbia stands as the only regular season meeting since Ambrose took over the program that has not gone into extra time.
• The Dores and Gamecocks last met in the 2019 SEC Tournament semifinals, where South Carolina earned a 2-0 win on the way to winning the tournament over Arkansas.
• Falling behind in the opening 15 minutes last time out, Vanderbilt rallied from a 2-0 deficit to cut the lead in half with less than 30 minutes to play but couldn’t find the equalizer in the closing minutes in falling 2-1 on the road to Missouri.
• Madi Allen scored Vanderbilt’s goal in the 63rd minute when she poked home a free kick from Amber Nguyen.
• With a minute to play, Abi Brighton rose above the Missouri defense in the box to head a free kick from Ella Shamburger, but her attempt floated too far right and rang the goal post to keep Missouri up by a goal.
• Across Vanderbilt’s two losses to Tennessee and Missouri, all three of the opponent goals have come from set pieces with Tennessee scoring on a corner kick and Missouri tallying twice from the direct result of free kicks.
• Now in his sixth season leading Vanderbilt soccer,Ambrose has guided one of the best five-year runs in program history. The Dores have amassed a 62-35-10 record and 30-18-7 SEC mark during his tenure. Ten of those wins were over ranked opponents. Vanderbilt has three appearances in the NCAA Tournament, an SEC regular season championship and an East Division championship under his leadership. Ambrose is the first Vanderbilt head coach in 21 years to have three consecutive double-digit win seasons (2017-19).
• All three of Vanderbilt’s games thus far in 2020 have been decided in the second half or later and have been one-goal games.
• All three of Vanderbilt’s goals against Kentucky in the season opener came after the 53rd minute with the first two separated by just 6:11 of game action.
• Last season, nine of the 14 wins were decided after halftime, and five of those wins were away from West End.
