Links associated with this release:
Live Stats
|
Commodores’ First Home Game Tonight 9/2/2005 The Vanderbilt women’s soccer team will get the ball rolling tonight in its first home contest of the season when it faces Francis Marion at the Vanderbilt Soccer Complex at 7 p.m. CT. The Commodores (1-1) are coming off a strong road trip to Colorado where they dropped a heartbreaker to the University of Colorado before defeating the University of Denver. Their quality of play was noticed and rewarded when the team moved up to No. 6 in the Central Region in the latest Soccer Buzz magazine poll. The team, ranked its highest since 1999, is also receiving votes in the national Top 30 poll. In their first home match, the Commodores will take on an unfamiliar opponent. Not only will the game be the Patriots’ first of the 2005 season, they are playing their first contest as a Division I program. Last season, in its final year in Division II, the Patriots were 13-4-0 and captured the program’s first Peach Belt Conference regular-season championship. A semifinal loss in the PBC Tournament likely cost FMU a bid to the Division II national tournament. While the team may be new to Division I, the team is not exactly green. The Patriots return 12 letterwinners and six starters, including senior forward Katie Riley, a Third Team All American last year. Following the FMU match, the Commodores will host Washington State on Sunday at 1 p.m. |