KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Simone Charley’s scoring surge continued and the defense and goalkeeper Christiana Ogunsami stood tall once again as the Vanderbilt soccer team knocked off rival Tennessee for the first time in five years.
Charley scored twice and the defense posted its second straight shutout in a 2-0 victory over the Volunteers on Sunday night. With a victory over Mississippi State on Friday, the Commodores (7-8-1, 2-5-1 SEC) swept the weekend and won consecutive SEC games for the first time since 2011. They also collected back-to-back SEC road victories for the first time since 2010.
The Commodores have won two straight and moved into a tie for 11th place with Tennessee (7-8-1, 2-5-1) in the SEC standings with seven points with three regular-season games left. The top 10 teams in the league reach the SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Ala., in November. Vanderbilt last played in the SEC Tournament in 2010.
Vanderbilt also defeated in-state foe Tennessee for the first time since 2009 and notched its first victory in Knoxville since the 2008 season. It marked the first win over the in-state rival for Vanderbilt’s fourth-year head coach Derek Greene, a Knoxville native who graduated from and was an assistant coach at Tennessee and had a large contingency of family and friends in the stands.
“First of all it is great to get a win against the University of Tennessee, which is a big in-state rival for us of course,” Greene said. “We didn’t talk much about that at all (before the game) but I think the kids were motivated to play Tennessee just because who they are. I couldn’t be happier and more proud of this group that continue to come to work every day and every game. I felt like they deserved to be in a good position going into the last two weeks of the season. I’m really, really proud of the effort they’ve put in. We got a consistent effort out of a lot of people. We got some really good back-to-back efforts from a lot of people, which made a huge difference for us.”
It was the first multi-goal game of Charley’s career. The sophomore has scored four times in the last three games and is responsible for five of the team’s six goals in SEC play this season.
Charley notched her third game-winning goal of the season in the 37th minute. As she moved toward the left side of the box, Charley encountered contact from a UT defender but kept her footing and fired a goal into the top right corner of the net.
“Pure determination for her to fight through that challenge,” Greene said. “She is only a sophomore and still understanding that is the kind of stuff you have to put up with sometimes when people are trying to stop you. Just so strong and so athletic and just what a great hit to be able to get her foot on that under that kind of pressure was just awesome.”
Added senior defender Taylor Richardson: “That was phenomenal… From my view point, it looked like there was no way she was going to be able to get through and get a goal off. But, hey, she is phenomenal. Leave it to Simone to be able to do that, right?”
Charley scored her team-high seventh goal of the season in the 54th minute to add insurance. Racing down the middle of the field, Sasha Gray laid the ball off to Jamie Kator, who lofted a pass into the box. Charley sprinted past the defender and tapped a shot into the right side of the net.
The Vanderbilt defense and Ogunsami collected the team’s sixth shutout of the season. It was the fifth of the season for Ogunsami. The freshman made four saves, including a couple diving stops to her left in the second half. Tennessee had 18 shots but only four were on goal.
“Our back line and Christiana were outstanding all weekend,” Greene said. “They worked very hard, they were smart, read the game very well and they played as a unit. We knew Tennessee being down, the last 10-12 minutes, we knew they would come out and put a lot of numbers forward and so we knew we would have to hold on there late. We got tremendous play from a freshman in goal who played like a veteran, holding onto every cross or set piece that came their way. Just really proud of the entire team for battling on defense and set pieces for first and second balls. Just a tremendous group effort overall. Those kids worked extremely hard and worked very well together this weekend.”
The Commodores return home for their final homestand of the season. They host South Carolina at 6 p.m. on Friday and welcome Ole Miss at 5 p.m. on Sunday for Senior Night.
“Coming off of two wins is really big for us. We have some momentum behind us,” Richardson said. “We’re really excited to play at home and Senior Night is on Sunday. So I know all of us are pretty excited for that. Getting two wins coming back home is going to definitely help us push forward and win these two games and get into the tournament like we deserve.”
