AMHERST, Mass. – The Vanderbilt soccer team was riding high after their hard fought win over BC Friday night and looked to finish off the road trip with a win when the faced UMass Sunday afternoon.
The Dores did not get off to the start they were looking for as UMass took the opening possession down the field and scored to take a 1-0 lead. The Commodores stayed composed and answered with two goals in 10 minutes to take the lead and never looked back en route to a 3-1 win.
Head coach Darren Ambrose liked the team’s composure after giving up the early goal.
“The response was excellent, we almost didn’t have any time to think,” said Ambrose. “We weren’t rattled, we didn’t panic and we responded within 10 minutes. The response was excellent, it is what we would have hoped for and then we settled it down.”
The Minutewomen scored on their opening possession when Salma Anastasio took the ball up the field and sent a cross into the box where Erin Doster was waiting. Doster got her foot on the ball and tapped it in to the far post to give UMass a 1-0 lead just 36 seconds into the match.
The Dores would not be down for long thanks to Simone Charley and Rebecca Rossett. Simone would have the first shot of the game for the Dores in the third minute but the UMass goalkeeper blocked the shot away. Rossett was in the right place at the right time as she found the rebound and tapped it in from six yards away for her first collegiate goal.
Just six minutes later, it was Charley and Rossett coming up big for the Commodores again. Rossett sent the ball up to Charley as she made her way into the box, evaded the goalie and scored to give the Dores a 2-1 lead.
Then with less than three minutes remaining in the half, Gabrielle Rademaker set up Grace Jackson and she fired a shot from 24 yards out that beat the keeper to the near post for the goal. The Dores would take the 3-1 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the Commodores would own most of the possession and limited the Minutewomen’s chances when they got them. The Dores couldn’t capitalize on any chances of their own but the first half surge was enough to claim the 3-1 win.
Rossett and Charley led the Dores Sunday afternoon with three points after picking up a goal and assist each. Simone would net her second goal on the weekend while Grace Jackson scored her first of the season. Gabrielle Rademaker tallied her first assist of the year on the Commodores third goal of the afternoon.
Kaitlyn Fahrner had another great outing in net. After the first goal, she made sure nothing was going to get by her the rest of the day. She finished with five saves to giver her 18 total between the two games this weekend.
Looking back on the weekend’s results, Ambrose was excited about the team’s improvements in creating more attacking opportunities.
“We were pretty dangerous today and that is what we were hoping to see,” stated Ambrose. “We generated more attacking opportunities and converted on some of them, which is very exciting.”
The Commodores head back to Nashville this week to prepare for the Music City Invitational. Indiana, Memphis and Rhode Island will travel to West End for this year’s tournament beginning Friday night. Memphis will face Rhode Island in the first game Friday at 5:00 pm CT with Vanderbilt and Indiana to follow at approximately 7:30 pm CT.
