Habig Scores in VU's Fifth Straight Win

Habig Scores in VU’s Fifth Straight Win

9/11/2005

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Birmingham, Ala. — The Vanderbilt women’s soccer team was playing with a chip on its shoulder heading into Sunday afternoon’s game at Alabama-Birmingham. Last season the Commodores fell to the Blazers 1-2 early in the season, a loss that ultimately played a part in keeping the team from advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Today’s 1-0 victory was payback.

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“It’s always a difficult game when we play UAB,” said head coach Ronnie Coveleskie Hill. “They are a very talented and athletic team and we had to dig a little deeper and play a little harder today. They forced us outside of our comfort zone a little bit.”

The Commodores (5-1-0) were not interested in letting UAB beat them again. Senior midfielder Meghan Habig (Sheridan, Ind.) took less than ten minutes to find the back of the net for her second goal of the season and junior goalkeeper Tyler Griffin and the Commodore defense clamped down to record their fifth straight shutout.

“In the first half we came out on fire,” Hill said. “We had a lot of good opportunities and Meghan Habig scored a fantastic, absolutely world class goal.”

The Blazers (3-3-0) were under pressure from the get-go as VU fired 17 first–half shots, while allowing only three. The second-half was more even in shots, at seven apiece, but Griffin saved all three shots on goal to make Habig’s goal stand up.

“If you evaluate the two periods, we were definitely a better team in the first half,” Hill said. “We tended to get a little consumed with the score and tough, physical nature of the game in the second half, and that took some of our focus away. However, we still fought hard and did what we needed to do to come out with a victory.”

Vanderbilt has not allowed a goal since the final minutes of season-opening loss at Colorado. During that span, Griffin has posted 406 consecutive minutes without a goal, one half shy of Christy Baringer’s Vanderbilt record (450).

“Tyler Griffin was spectacular at the end of the game,” Hill said. “She had to make a fantastic save and basically pull the ball out of the back of the net to prevent UAB from tying it up.”

The last time Vanderbilt won five games in a row was in 1998, when the team posted two stretches of six-straight wins. The VU record for most consecutive wins in a season is seven, set twice in 1990 when the team went 15-2. The team record for most wins overall (not just in a single season) is nine (10/7/90-9/8/91).

“The girls are still focusing on our motto of taking one game at a time,” Hill said. As a group you build more confidence when you get on a roll, but, we’re not consumed with what our record is. We’re much more focused on the quality of soccer we’re playing and I honestly believe we have not played our best soccer yet. I think this team will keep working hard and improving as the season progresses.”

The Commodores will have a chance to continue to attack those records when it hosts Morehead St. Thursday evening at 7 pm at the Vanderbilt Soccer Complex.