NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Facing a quick turnaround after a road match at No. 5 Texas A&M on Friday, Vanderbilt’s soccer team started slowly against Evansville Sunday at the VU Soccer Complex before scoring the game’s final two goals for a 2-1 victory.
Vanderbilt (5-4-1) controlled the pace of play for much of the game and maintained possession on Evansville’s side of the pitch majority of the time as the Purple Aces played back to negate Vanderbilt’s speed advantage.
But it was Evansville (2-7-1) that seized momentum early on with a goal just 6:40 into the match. The goal came off the foot of Caitie Dierkes, who drilled a shot past starting goalkeeper Shannon Morrish. Dierkes was assisted by Jordin Campbell’s center from the right side of the box.
The score would remain the same until the 38th minute when Simone Charley setup a pretty goal by Taylor Elliott. Working on the left side of the box, Charley held off a defender long enough to center the ball to a streaking Elliott, who buried the ball past Simone Busby for the equalizer.
“Evansville was really dropping deep, so we weren’t able to play balls over the top, which is something that we usually like to do because we have a lot of speed up top,” Elliott said. “We had to find a way to play balls in seams and hold up and be targets.”
Vanderbilt’s decisive goal came at the 69:35 mark of the second half when Lina Granados made a quick move with the ball at the top of the box and blasted a shot to the left side of the net, which Busby made a diving save on. However, Busby didn’t hold onto the ball and Jamie Kator was there to punch it into the back of the net.
Evansville had a few opportunities to even the score, but the shots were swallowed up by Christiana Ogunsami, who stepped into net for the second half. Evansville ended up outshooting Vanderbilt, 11-10, but most shots came from beyond the 18-yard box. Vanderbilt held the advantage in corner kicks, 5-1.
It was a physical matchup on the field with 11 fouls being called and two yellow cards being issued.
“The SEC is a super physical league, so were going to see that every game coming up,” Elliott said. “We’re going to have to fight to earn our right to play soccer as coach always says.”
The win was Vanderbilt’s fourth in its last six matches as the ‘Dores are now 4-1-1 over that span. It also gave Vanderbilt a winning record in non-conference play at 4-3-1. The Commodores will now move into the heart of SEC play after opening league play with a 1-1 record.
Vanderbilt remains at home next weekend to face Florida at 7 p.m. on Friday and Tennessee at 4 p.m. on Sunday. Friday’s match is on SEC Network+, while Sunday’s will be televised nationally on SEC Network.
