Oct. 28, 2015
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt soccer team will cap off the regular season the way many of its weekends in the SEC started this year – against a Top 20 team.
But adding to the tension and drama of the final game at No. 12 Ole Miss on Thursday is the fact that the Commodores have a chance to clinch a SEC Tournament berth.
With a win over the Rebels (13-3-2, 7-3), Vanderbilt would make the 10-team league tournament for the first time since 2010. The ‘Dores (7-7-4, 3-4-3) will square off will Ole Miss at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Oxford, Miss., in a game that can be seen on SEC Network +.
“Everyone wants to pour everything they’ve got into this game on Thursday,” Vanderbilt coach Darren Ambrose said. We know we’re going up against the team that probably has the most momentum in the league right now. It just seems to be timed perfectly that every time Vanderbilt goes to play a Thursday or Friday night game we’re playing against a team that is ranked somewhere in the Top 20. So, is it any different? No, other than it is now the last game and what do we get out of this? But going into it, we will prepare for a Top 20 team the way we’ve prepared for every other Top 20 team we’ve played.”
EYING SEC TOURNAMENT
Vanderbilt can clinch an SEC Tournament berth with a win over Ole Miss on Thursday.
The Commodores (7-7-4, 3-4-3) are in a four-way tie for eighth place with Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee heading into the last game. If the tournament was to start today, VU would be the eight seed.
VU is trying to make the 10-team SEC Tournament for the first time since 2010.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Vanderbilt wraps up the regular season on Thursday at No. 12 Ole Miss. The Commodores are trying to snap a two-game losing streak and win its regular season finale for the first time since 2009.
The Rebels (13-3-2, 7-3) have won five straight and eight of nine. They are led by freshman CeCe Kizer, who has 14 goals. Junior Addie Forbus has 11 goals and six assists and junior Gretchen Harknett leads the team with seven assists. The Rebels rank third in the SEC with 40 goals.
Ole Miss leads the all-time series 6-5-5, with five wins coming in the last five years. Vanderbilt last won in 2009.
WEEKLY REPORT
Vanderbilt dropped a pair of games at home to conclude its home schedule.
Georgia handed a 3-1 loss on Friday and Missouri won 1-0 on Sunday.
Against the Bulldogs, VU allowed three goals in the first half, including the first in the second minute. The Commodores scored in the 74th minute when Kelsey Tillman finished a second-chance opportunity after Simone Charley’s shot bounced off the crossbar. The loss snapped a five-game unbeaten streak, which was the team’s longest since 2009.
Vanderbilt held Missouri scoreless for the first half. But Reagan Russell scored the game winner in the 49th minute off a cross into the box. The Commodores were outshot 12-10 with five shots on goal. Goalkeeper Christiana Ogunsami made all six of her saves in the second half to keep it a one-goal game.
VU dropped back-to-back games for the first time since starting the season 0-2.
OGUNSAMI, ELLIOTT HONORED
Vanderbilt goalkeeper Christiana Ogunsami and forward Taylor Elliott were honored by the SEC in successive weeks.
On Oct. 12, Ogunsami was named the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week. The sophomore from Cherry Hill, N.J., made 10 saves and posted two shutouts in a tie over No. 20 Kentucky and a win over Arkansas.
Elliott was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 19. The fifth-year senior from Armonk, N.Y., had the game-tying goal and a game-winning assist in a win over No. 8 South Carolina in overtime.
BIG WIN
Vanderbilt’s win over No. 8 South Carolina on Oct. 16 was an historic victory.
It marked the highest ranked opponent the program had ever beaten since the NSCAA started compiling rankings in 1996. It was also only the second time VU has beaten a Top 10 team (No. 10 Virginia, Oct. 4, 1998).
STINGY DEFENSE
Despite allowing four goals in the last two games, Vanderbilt’s defense has played exceptionally well this season.
With one game remaining, 20 goals allowed is the fewest surrendered in the regular season since 2006.
The Commodores went 401 minutes, spanning five games, without allowing a goal for their longest scoreless stretch since 2005. They have posted five shutouts, including three in the SEC for their most in five years.
On top of that, Christiana Ogunsami has played better in goal as the season as progressed. She has allowed just nine goals int he last eight games. The sophomore is second in the SEC in saves (79), third in save percentage (.806), third in saves per game (4.39), sixth in shutouts (five) and ninth in goals against average (1.06).
SIM CITY
Simone Charley continues to build on what has already been an impressive career. The 5-foot-8 junior forward from Hoover, Ala., leads active VU players with 19 career goals, including a team-high nine last year.
Her five goals this season (four game winners) are the most on the team. Against South Carolina she scored for the second time in as many games when she scored the game winner in the 97th minute. She also has a team-high four assists to lead the squad with 14 points.
In 2014, she accounted for seven of the team’s nine goals in SEC 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.
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
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 ranks second on the team with four goals and nine points. Before this season, she hadn’t scored a goal.
CAPTAIN CONSISTENCY
Since the start of the 2012 season, there has been one constant in the Commodores’ lineup  Erin Myers.
The senior, who has played midfield and now center back, has started every game of her career. The three-year captain has started 76 straight games.
Coach Darren Ambrose calls Myers, a native of Armonk, N.Y., the “heart and soul” of the team, and she is one of the squad’s most vocal leaders.
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
Transfers Danae O’Halloran (North Carolina) and Kacy Scarpa (Florida State) have started 18 and 17 games, respectively.
Freshman Kelsey Carrier has played in all 18 games, and started four games. Freshman Brook Colangelo has played in five games.
Fellow freshmen Maggie Clemmons, Megan Henry and Hannah Menard have made their VU debuts but are currently sidelined due to injury. Sophomore walk-on Carley Bogan, a transfer from William & Mary, has played in six games.