STARKVILLE, Miss. – Sophomore midfielder Molly Kinsella scored three goals and her sister Megan added another to lead Vanderbilt to a 4-0 win over Mississippi State Sunday afternoon at the MSU Soccer Field.
The Commodores improved to 9-7-2 overall and 3-6-1 in Southeastern Conference play and remain alive for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament in two weeks. The Bulldogs dropped to 5-14-0 and 0-10-0 in league play with the loss.
“Anytime you can score four goals against an SEC opponent, it is a good offensive showing,” head coach Ronnie Coveleskie said. “At this point in the season every team is playing for something, whether it’s an SEC tournament berth or getting another conference win. I thought we played with grit and determination today and I was pleased with our efforts.”
Molly Kinsella scored the first goal at the 28:42 mark when she took a feed from Candace West and beat the keeper one versus one into the lower left of the net.
The Commodores took the 1-0 lead into the half and held a 9-5 shot advantage. Kinsella scored her second goal of the game at the 56:20 mark off a header via Hannah Gonzales’ corner kick.
Megan Kinsella got into the scoring act, at the 63:04 mark, scoring off another assist by Gonzales. It was her fourth goal of the season.
Molly Kinsella finished off the hat trick with her eighth goal of the season just 43 seconds later. She had another assist from West and scored the fourth goal of the game. The eight goals is a new season high, besting her mark of six set a year ago.
“Anytime you can get a hat-trick in a collegiate game says something about what type of player you are,” Coveleskie said. “Molly continues to show why she is a difficult player to defend for other SEC teams. I thought it was neat to see the Kinsella sisters light up the scoreboard for us and Candace West and Hannah Gonzales had great assists in the game.”
Goalkeepers Rachel Bachtel and Devan Council combined on the Commodores sixth shutout of the year and second in a row after blanking Ole Miss 0-0 last Thursday. Bachtel played the first 80 minutes of the game and finished with four saves, while Council did not face a shot in the final ten minutes of action.
VU held a 8-6 shot advantage in the second half and finished with a 17-11 difference.
Vanderbilt will close out the regular season at Kentucky next Friday at 6 p.m. CT.
“We’re going to bring forth our best effort of the season against Kentucky,” Coveleskie summed up. “We still have a lot to play for.”
