Oct. 1, 2015
Game Notes | Ambrose Interview
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – As the calendar flips to October, the Vanderbilt soccer team gears up for the last month of the regular season.
Over the next five weeks, the Commodores will play seven games, with four on the road. The first of the October tests is at LSU (7-3-2, 1-3 SEC) at 7 p.m. on Friday in Baton Rouge, La. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network +.
Vanderbilt (5-5-2, 1-2-1) is looking for its first SEC victory since defeating Mississippi State in the league opener on Sept. 11. The Commodores snagged a point last weekend with a tie against in-state foe Tennessee on Sunday after battling No. 9 Florida in a 3-2 loss on Friday.
After starting the season 1-3, VU is 4-2-2 in its last eight games, with the only losses to No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 9 Florida. Eleven of the team’s 15 goals have also come during that stretch with Vanderbilt suffering just one shutout since Aug. 23.
Vanderbilt coach Darren Ambrose said before practice on Wednesday, he shared with the team video of their attacking chances over the last four games. He wanted to show the growth of opportunities on offense and how “dangerous” the Commodores can be to defend against.
“We continue to try to put that message in,” Ambrose said, “and reinforce that when they do the things they can do, when they apply themselves, when they really focus they are very, very dangerous. (Wednesday) we had a practice similar to that. When the movement is there and the communication is there, we can be very good.”
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
The Commodores hit the road to play LSU on Friday in Baton Rouge, La. The Tigers are 7-3-2 with a 1-3 mark in SEC play. They are led by two of top goal scorers in the SEC in Jorian Baucom (11) and Summer Clarke (seven). Baucom’s 11 goals are tied for second-most in the country.
LSU has lost two straight, falling to No. 13 Auburn and Ole Miss on the road last weekend. But the Tigers are undefeated this year at LSU Soccer Stadium with a 6-0-2 record.
Vanderbilt is 9-7-2 all-time against LSU. The teams didn’t meet in 2014, but VU has lost two straight to the Tigers, last winning in 2011.
WEEKLY REPORT
Vanderbilt salavaged a point out of two SEC games at home last weekend. After falling to No. 9 Florida 3-2 on Friday, the Commodores rallied to tie Tennessee 1-1 on Sunday.
Facing a Top 10 opponent for the second straight Friday, VU took a 2-1 lead on Florida at the VU Soccer Complex. Falling behind 1-0, the ‘Dores scored twice within a two-minute span to take the lead.
Simone Charley set both goals up with cross from the right end line. In the 25th minute, Taylor Elliott tied the game with a one-timer off her right foot. About 100 seconds later, Lydia Simmons put VU ahead after a pass from Charley went off of a Florida defender’s back and right to Simmons, who buried her team-high fourth goal of the season. Florida scored in the 32nd minute and then went ahead on a long shot outside of the box just 11 minutes after halftime.
Despite the loss, the Commodores could take some solace in the improvement from last year. Against Texas A&M and Florida in 2014 – both top 10 opponents then, too – VU was outscored 12-3 as both teams scored six goals. This season, against the same foes, the ‘Dores closed the gap to 4-2, with both games decided by a goal and VU went into halftime of each contest tied.
On Sunday, the Commodores rallied to tie Tennessee after allowing a goal just 35 seconds into the second half.
Jamie Kator scored on a free kick in the 74th minute after Charley drew a foul just outside of the box. Kator finished a shot through the UT wall, off the goalkeeper’s glove and into the bottom right corner. The teams battled to a 1-1 tie as Christiana Ogunsami made five saves for VU, which had nine players log at least 100 minutes.
GLIMPSE OF THE ‘DORES
Vanderbilt, in its 29th women’s soccer season, returns 15 letterwinners and eight starters from a team that went 7-10-2 overall and 2-7-2 in SEC play. Among those returning are All-SEC junior forward Simone Charley, who led the team with nine goals last year, and midfielder Lydia Simmons, who was named SEC All-Freshman. Goalkeeper Christiana Ogunsami also returns after starting all 19 games as a freshman and leading the SEC with 113 saves.
In addition to Ogunsami, senior captain Erin Myers, senior Kelsey Tillman and junior Claire Anderson started all 19 games in 2014. Myers, a midfielder/defender, has started all 58 games of her career.
The Commodores return 56 percent of last year’s goal scorers. Both goalkeepers are back, as Ogunsami and senior Shannon Morrish combined for six shutouts.
The squad welcomes eight newcomers. Six freshmen arrive, plus a pair of transfers from the ACC  defender Danae O’Halloran from North Carolina and midfielder Kacy Scarpa, who played for national champ Florida State.
SIM CITY
Simone Charley enters the second half of what has so far been a superb two-sport college career. The 5-foot-8 junior forward from Hoover, Ala., leads active VU players with 17 career goals, including a team-high nine last year.
She accounted for seven of the team’s nine goals in league play and scored six goals in her last six games. She was named First Team All-SEC and All-South Region Second Team last year. She has scored a team-high three goals this season, with two game-winners, in addition to a team-high three assists.
Charley also is a standout on the track as a three-time All-American. She placed fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships and then reached the podium at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a third-place finish in June. In the process, she leapt 44-3.25, breaking her own school record.
SIMMONS EMERGES AS SCORING THREAT
Midfielder Lydia Simmons earned SEC All-Freshman honors last year for her work as a field general and as the team’s top distributor with three assists. But this year she has also emerged as a scoring threat.
Simmons leads the team with four goals and nine points. Before this season, she hadn’t scored a goal, but she notched three in the first four games of September.
The redshirt sophomore from Londonderry, N.H., booted her first career goal in a 1-0 victory against Dartmouth on Sept. 4. She followed up the next weekend with another goal from just outside the box in a 2-1 victory over Mississippi State. On Sept. 13, she tied she hooked in a corner kick in a 1-1 tie against High Point. She then scored her team-high fourth goal of the season on Sept. 25 against Florida with a shot with her right foot in the 27th minute.
TASTING THE WORLD CUP
Redshirt junior Lina Granados made the 23-player roster for Colombia at the Women’s World Cup in June in Canada and traveled with the team during its four games. Colombia advanced out of pool play for the first time and fell to the United States, the eventual champ.
Granados hails from Ashburn, Va., but has dual citizenship as she was born in Bogota, Colombia. She has played for the Colombia Football Federation since she was 15, and has played in international tournaments three times. She has made her first five career starts in the last five games.
MORRISH BEGINS NURSING SCHOOL
Senior goalkeeper Shannon Morrish will be juggling not only soccer and her final year of undergraduate studies this fall but also nursing school. Morrish, a native of Bradenton, Fla., entered Vanderbilt University’s School of Nursing on Aug. 17. She is pursuing a master’s degree in adult/gerontology acute care. She’ll be a registered nurse after the first year and complete the requirements to be certified as a nurse practitioner by May 2017.
NEW FACES MAKE DEBUTS
Several players have made their Vanderbilt debuts this season.
Transfers Danae O’Halloran (North Carolina) and Kacy Scarpa (Florida State) have been key cogs in the starting lineup. O’Halloran, a redshirt sophomore, has started all 12 games on defense. Scarpa has been solid at holding midfielder, starting 11 games and missing VU’s bout against No. 9 Florida to a concussion.
In addition, transfer Carley Bogan (William & Mary) has played in five games off the bench. The redshirt sophomore walked on to the team after the first week of the season. Freshman Kelsey Carrier has played in all 12 games.
Fellow freshmen Maggie Clemmons, Megan Henry and Hannah Menard have made their VU debuts but are currently sidelined due to injury.