ORANGE BEACH, Ala.- The Vanderbilt soccer team’s first trip to the SEC Tournament in five years came to an end on Wednesday night.
The Commodores suffered a 2-1 loss to the top-seeded Gators in the quarterfinals at the Orange Beach Sportsplex. Florida, the SEC regular season champ and ranked fifth in the country, scored the game winner in the 75th minute to most likely end the season for No. 8 seed Vanderbilt (9-8-4).
Under first-year coach Darren Ambrose, VU recorded its most wins and first winning season since 2009. A 2-1 victory over Georgia in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Monday was the program’s first tournament victory since 2005. The team also allowed its fewest goals (23) since 2006.
“We took the field and there wasn’t one of us that didn’t feel that we could win the game,” Ambrose said. “There is that kind of belief and that kind of pride in our program now that is catching on. I couldn’t have asked for more from those kids tonight. I thought we fought tooth and nail. Florida obviously is one of the best teams in the country. We knew we were going to have to defend. We knew we were going to have to counter attack. I thought overall we did exactly what we were supposed to do. We gave up two goals. One was a deflection that was cruel and the other one was a corner. Over time they wore us down.
“But I couldn’t be more proud to be associated with the 25 women on those buses over there. I thought we were fantastic and they represented our school and program very well.”
With the Commodores having played less than 48 hours before on Monday night against Georgia, Ambrose had the team come out in a 3-4-2-1 formation. By packing in the middle, the hope was to preserve the team’s weary legs against a fresh Florida squad that hadn’t played since last Thursday, and possibly take advantage on the counter attack.
That strategy paid off less than 10 minutes in. Not unlike the first time Vanderbilt and Florida met earlier this season on Sept. 25 in Nashville, the Commodores went ahead in the first half. VU jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the ninth minute when two-time All-SEC forward Simone Charley scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season. Charley powered a shot from 16 yards out off a Florida defender and into the bottom left corner of the net. It was the 21st career goal for the junior, who is tied for 10th in career goals in program history.
“We thought we would score in the first half,” Ambrose said. “We figured it would come through either a quick counter attack or through forcing them to make a mistake with them being very confident on the ball. But (Florida) made mistakes. We latched onto one and Simone did what Simone does, and that is run past somebody and smack it in the goal.”
The Gators (15-3-1) battled back. They attacked and created 10 corner kicks in the first half. But the Vanderbilt defense held strong as Danae O’Halloran made a team save, clearing a shot off the line, and Cristina De Zeeuw and Erin Myers came up big with clutch headers and slide tackles. Goalkeeper Christiana Ogunsami was also brilliant, making seven of her nine saves in the first half.
Florida broke through in the 25th minute. SEC Offensive Player of the Year Savannah Jordan deflected a shot from teammate Meggie Dougherty Howard that redirected into the left side of the goal. The Commodores kept it tied, though, despite 15 first-half shots from the Gators. Vanderbilt went into halftime tied with Florida, just like the regular-season meeting between the teams.
The Commodores managed to cool down Florida’s shooting attack a bit in the second half, limiting the Gators to just three shots on goal.
But one of Florida’s 16 corner kicks finally led to a goal in the second half. The Gators scored the game winner when SEC Defensive Player of the Year Christen Westphal served a corner into the box and Pamela Begic headed in a goal to the left of Ogunsami.
It was Vanderbilt’s second one-goal loss of the season to Florida, which won the shooting battle 24-7. The Commodores finished the season 2-3-1 against ranked opponents, notching wins over then-No. 8 South Carolina and No. 12 Ole Miss, a tie over No. 20 Kentucky and losses to No. 5 Texas A&M and twice to Florida. The win over No. 8 South Carolina marked the highest ranked opponent Vanderbilt has ever beaten since the NSCAA started compiling rankings in 1996.
“At the end of the day, I think we left it all out there,” Ambrose said. “I said it at the beginning of the year, you can do a lot with effort. I think these kids have left everything they could and given every ounce of energy and effort they could out to this program this year.”
