NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt soccer team showed resiliency and relentlessness by twice battling back from one-goal deficits on Thursday night.
But a pair of Alabama goals on set pieces and a late penalty kick plagued Vanderbilt in a 4-3 loss in an exhibition game at the VU Soccer/Lacrosse Complex. All-SEC forward Simone Charley scored twice and Lina Granados added a goal, but the Commodores allowed three second-half goals.
Even so, first-year coach Darren Ambrose, in his first game with the Commodores, was pleased with how his team kept battling back despite falling behind twice.
“I’m really, really pleased with the attitude and the fight they showed,” Ambrose said. “The issues we’ve got to fix our fixable. We gave up two bad goals on dead balls that were habits we are trying to change and showed why we are trying to change them. I thought we fell asleep a little bit in key moments in the game… But I can’t fault the effort and the attitude. We’ve got some things that I think are pretty fixable. At the end of the day that is what we wanted. We wanted to say, ‘What do we need to get better at?’ And now we have a good starting point.”
The Commodores battled back after allowing a goal in the 12th minute to take a 2-1 lead at halftime.
Charley scored first in the 29th minute after Sasha Gray stole an Alabama pass and darted down field. Gray found fellow junior Charley on her left, and Charley scorched a goal past Alabama keeper Emily Rusk. Granados then gave Vanderbilt a 2-1 lead in the 41st minute after receiving a 30-yard pass from Kacy Scarpa. Granados, who represented Colombia in the Women’s World Cup this summer, turned and fired a shot into the bottom left corner.
The Crimson Tide jumped back in front after halftime with two goals on set pieces. A header off a corner kick snuck just inside the post to tie the game in the 51st minute. Alabama then took a 3-2 lead in the 58th minute on a tap-in to the left of goalkeeper Christiana Ogunsami after a cross on a free kick.
Charley tied the game 3-3 in the 69th minute on an unassisted goal. The play was set up by senior Taylor Elliott, who fed Charley with a pass down the sideline. Charley, who led the team with nine goals in 2014, then juked a defender and lofted a shot past Rusk.
Alabama would take the lead for good on a penalty kick by Celia Jimenez after a foul was called on Vanderbilt in the box.
Both teams had 13 shots, with six of Vanderbilt’s on goal. Ogunsami made five saves. Vanderbilt went to its bench often, using 17 players.
The Commodores now have eight days off before opening the regular season against Miami-Ohio at 7 p.m. on Aug. 21 at the VU Soccer/Lacrosse Complex.
