ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – Vanderbilt made the most of its first SEC Tournament game in five years – and the Commodores guaranteed they’d be playing another.
No. 8 seed Vanderbilt jumped in front and held on for a 2-1 victory over No. 9 seed Georgia in the opening round on Monday night at the Orange Beach Sportsplex. The Commodores picked up their first SEC Tournament win since 2005 and advance to the quarterfinals to play No. 1 seed Florida at 5 p.m. on Wednesday on the SEC Network.
Vanderbilt (9-7-4) avenged a regular-season loss to Georgia and defeated the Bulldogs for the first time since 2006. With nine wins the Commodores have their most victories in a single season since 2009.
“Full credit to our kids, I thought they battled tooth and nail and they got what they deserved tonight,” Vanderbilt coach Darren Ambrose said. “I thought over 90 minutes we were pretty good. But to be fair to Georgia, I thought in the first half they had probably 60 percent of the game. I thought they were far more dangerous than we were. As has been the case this year, we relied on our defending and I thought it was excellent… I have nothing but good things to say about our kids. They have applied everything we have tried to talk with them about and to work with them on and the results have obviously been excellent. That is a good Georgia team. I thought they were good in spots. I thought we defended very well.”
Two-time All-SEC forward Simone Charley scored her sixth goal of the season in the 39th minute on a breakaway goal off an assist by Kacy Scarpa to give the Commodores a 1-0 lead. Charley’s 20th career goal, most among active VU players came off a counter attack in which Scarpa unleashed a 40-yard pass. Charley chased down the ball and tapped in a shot between a Georgia defender and goalkeeper Louise Hogrell into the bottom right corner of the net.
“We know our players, we know what they are capable of, we know the strengths of our system,” Ambrose said. “That is, if we defend well, which we do, and we can connect a pass or two, we are very good on the counter attack and have been all year.”
Taylor Elliott then provided a huge insurance goal in the 69th minute. Elliott headed in her fourth goal of the season on a brilliant cross from Kelsey Tillman on the far sideline.
“I’m ecstatic for that kid,” Ambrose said about Elliott. “She has a heart as big as the field and I’m just so happy for that kid.”
Georgia (5-12-1) made it interesting in the 80th minute when Sydney Shultis struck a shot from outside the box that went into the top left corner and out of the reach of goalkeeper Christiana Ogunsami.
But the Commodores held off the Bulldogs in the final 10 minutes, limiting them to one shot. Georgia won the shooting battle 21-17 but only six shots were on goal, and Ogunsami made five saves.
Vanderbilt will now play the sixth-ranked Gators (14-3-1), who won the SEC regular-season championship, at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The Commodores fell to Florida 3-2 on Sept. 25 in Nashville.
