Aug. 8, 2016
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – With Vanderbilt soccer’s official home opener just two and a half weeks away on August 25th, the ‘Dores welcome Southeast Missouri State to West End for an exhibition Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm at the Vanderbilt Soccer Complex.
Over the past week, Vandy has been hustling in preparation for the impending season. With training sessions beginning around 6:00 am, and the day’s events concluding around dinner time, second year head coach Darren Ambrose and his staff are eager to now see how the team’s efforts will translate on the field in Tuesday’s tilt.
“We want to see effort, and I don’t have any worries that we’ll get that,” said Ambrose. “We really want a starting point, and the only way we’re going to get a starting point is if they show us what they already know.”
The Commodores, coming off a 9-8-4 season, return 15 letterwinners and six starters eager to carry over and build off last season’s success. The ‘Dores also welcome 12 newcomers, including nine talented freshmen.
Amongst the 12 Commodore debuts are three transfers who joined Vanderbilt this season. Defenders Allie Bruder (Southern Cal) and Jacqueline Welch (Indiana), as well as goalkeeper Kaitlyn Farhner (Oklahoma) have all impressed in preseason training drills.
“I think they (the team) is upbeat, and I think there’s a belief in themselves already, which is really cool to see. Youth is still existent and visible at times in some of the things they’re doing, but you expect that. It’s also kind of exciting, because you can watch them learn and grow. To the credit of our younger players, they’re very open minded and asking the right questions. The upperclassmen are helping them as well, and coaching them, and they’re very receptive to feedback, which is what you want to hear and see from your team.”
While Tuesday’s exhibition will not count for or against Vandy’s record, the squad’s matchup will be the first of its kind, as both teams have never competed against one another.
“As far as preseason goes, we really want to focus on us. We don’t have a particular report or anything else on them that we’re aware on. We’ll try to do some casual stuff. But the more we get into the game, we’ll see if our kids can pick up on things they’re doing and how do they adjust on the field. The result is one thing, and if we get the performance from individuals collectively, that will be good enough to get what we want.”
The Redhawks finished their 2015-16 campaign with a 9-8-7 record, and were ranked fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference last season in goals (28), shots (241), and points (74) while first in the league with 11 shutouts last season. This year SEMO is predicted to finish second in the OVC just behind Murray State.
Southeast returns a formidable group of student-athletes including Second Team and All-Newcomer Team honorees Angie Mann and Lauren Kaempfe. Mann led the Redhawks with eight goals in her first season in a Redhawk uniform. In her rookie season, Kaempfe registered two goals and two assists. She played all 22 matches, starting 21, and played a total of 1,861 minutes.
Tuesday’s test will be the first of two exhibitions on the schedule this week, as the squad travels to Greenville, South Carolina on Friday to face the Furman Paladins at 5:00 pm CT.