Commodores Win 11th in VU's Best Ever Start

Commodores Win 11th in VU’s Best Ever Start

10/2/2005

Tuscaloosa, Ala. — The first game in the month of October went pretty much the same as the nine September games for the Vanderbilt women’s soccer team. The No. 19 Commodores (11-1-0, 4-0-0 SEC) won their 11th straight game and recorded their tenth shutout of the season with 1-0 victory over Alabama (6- 3-2, 0-2-2 SEC).

“It’s never easy playing on the road in the SEC,” said head coach Ronnie Coveleskie Hill. “We knew coming in that this weekend and next weekend were going to be important to us with four SEC road games. Traveling eight out of 14 days is always tough. But we got past the first step, which was beating Auburn and Alabama and now we’re going to rest our legs, rest our minds and get back rolling on Tuesday.

For the second game in a row sophomore forward Sarah Dennis (Germantown, Tenn.) scored the only goal of the contest — she nailed a 15-yarder against Auburn on Friday — to give the Commodores the edge, and then the defense and goalkeeping of junior Tyler Griffin (Charlotte, N.C.)

In the 67th minute, senior midfielder Lauren Mitchell (Millersville, Md.) fired a shot that hit the post but Dennis fought to get the rebound and put it in the back of the net for her fifth goal of the year, tied for most on the team. Mitchell earned her second assist on the season.

“Sarah Dennis has been on fire,” Hill said. “Two game- winning goals in one weekend is a true credit to where she is right now and I’m just thrilled that she’s getting the results after all the effort and hard work she has put in.”

Griffin earned her eighth shut out of the year, the team’s tenth. The goalkeeper is sitting on a streak of 424 minutes without allowing a goal. The last goal she allowed came in the 20th minute of a 2-1 win over Samford, which ended her school record streak at 515 minutes.

The 11-1 start is the best- ever in school history, passing the 1994 team that started out 10-1 before finishing the season 18-5. The ten team shutouts is two shy of the VU all-time record (12) and the 4-0 SEC record is the best start in conference play since the team went 4-0 in the then four-game conference schedule, both in 1994. The 1994 team also won the SEC title and SEC tournament title before losing to Duke in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The Commodores will be on the road once again next weekend with games at South Carolina (5-6-0, 1-3-0 SEC) and No. 17 Florida (7-3-1, 2-1-1 SEC). Friday’s game in at the Eugene Stone III Stadium in Columbia, S.C. will begin at 6 p.m. Central time.