'Dores battle back to tie Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – An early second-half goal by Tennessee might have caught the Vanderbilt soccer team off guard, but it didn’t sink the Commodores.

Senior midfielder Jamie Kator scored in the 74th minute as Vanderbilt battled back to tie the Vols 1-1 after two overtimes on Sunday at the VU Soccer/Lacrosse Complex. Kator’s goal on a free kick helped Vanderbilt salvage a point after UT scored just 35 seconds into the second half.

“Our kids battled hard,” Vanderbilt coach Darren Ambrose said. “We’re playing 12, 13 players (due to injuries) and they’re rotating kids in off the bench three, four at a time. They tried to wear us down. So I’m really proud of how our kids dug in and arguably created the best chances to win the game in the second half. I think we’re making progress. I say that every week, and that’s a good thing to say.”

The Commodores (5-5-2, 1-2-1 SEC) knotted the game up after Simone Charley drew several defenders and a foul just outside the box. This set up Kator, who took the free kick after misdirection from midfielder Lydia Simmons. The sophomore came in from the right side and jumped over the ball. Kator stepped up and drove the ball with her right foot. The shot soared through a Tennessee wall, which Vanderbilt’s Kacy Scarpa helped disrupt, and off the glove of Vols goalkeeper Julie Eckel and into the bottom right corner of the net.

It was only the fifth goal Tennessee (5-1-5, 1-1-2) has allowed all year, and the second goal of the season for Kator. The Vols had taken a 1-0 lead in the 46th minute when Katie Cousins won a loose ball and booted a shot from 20 yards out off the far post and in.

Vanderbilt had some good chances throughout with Charley and Simmons each putting two shots on goal. Redshirt junior Lina Granados nearly connected with Charley in the 83rd minute. Granados served in a cross to Charley, who tapped the ball out of the air but Eckel was right there for the save. Sasha Gray almost put the Commodores ahead in the 89th minute with a great strike from the right side but Eckel again came up with a big stop.

“We’ve played arguably two of the top teams (Texas A&M and Florida) in the conference and given them all they can handle. Forty-eight hours later we come back and find another way,” Ambrose said. “Even though we fell behind – again, one mistake. The teams are too good. One mistake and we just got to eliminate those. We made fewer of them today, but the one we made we were punished for. But tremendous comeback.”

Tennessee used 20 players compared to just 14 for Vanderbilt. Only three players came off the bench for the Commodores, who have had eight players miss games this year due to injury. Nine players logged more than 100 minutes for Vanderbilt against Tennessee, including six who played the entire game.

Even with heavy legs, the Commodores outshot Tennessee 20-14, including 14 shots after halftime. Eckel made six saves while Vanderbilt’s Christiana Ogunsami had five saves.

Vanderbilt continues SEC play on Friday when it hits the road to play LSU at 7 p.m. in Baton Rouge, La., for its only game of the weekend.