Nov. 1, 2017
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – One of the goals for the 2017 Vanderbilt soccer team was to get a chance to play in the SEC Championship game. With Tuesday night’s win over Tennessee, the Commodores clinched a spot in the SEC semifinals and will have that opportunity Thursday afternoon against Arkansas.
“We have various levels of goal for each season from a winning season, to winning seasons in the SEC,” said head coach Darren Ambrose. “With this team and the experience we have, the athleticism and the depth, we might have an opportunity to go further. We talked about giving ourselves a chance to be in the championship game and to the kids credit, they have that opportunity tomorrow.”
The Commodores will face off with No. 8 seed Arkansas in the semifinals after the Razorbacks upset No. 1 seed South Carolina. Thursday’s semifinal match will be at 3:30pm CT and broadcast live on the SEC Network.
In Tuesday’s quarterfinal rematch with the Volunteers, Tennessee looked to get on the right side of the result following the 2-1 loss less than two weeks ago. Early on, they pushed the play up into their attacking half of the field and maintained the early share of possession.
The Volunteers would get 10 shots off in the first half but only one would be on frame and Kaitlyn Fahrner was able to make the save.
Since the Vols held most of the first half possession, the Dores only had one shot off of a header from Jackie Welch but it was blocked before it could reach goal.
In the second half, the Dores needed more runs up from their defensive backs if they wanted to break through on the scoreboard and got just that in the first five minutes.
Very similar to the run against the Volunteers two weeks ago, Myra Konte beat her defender up the left side and turned into the box and was fouled. Stephanie Amack stepped up to take the penalty kick and instead of going left, she went right and beat the keeper to give the Dores a 1-0 lead.
That was all they would need as the Commodore defense thwarted any chance the Vols would have over the remaining 40 minutes of play. Tennessee totaled 21 shots on the night but only three made it on goal.
With the win, the Dores advanced on to the SEC semifinals for the first time since 2005.
Scouting the Razorbacks:
Arkansas enters the semifinal match with an 11-9-1 record and is the No. 8 seed in the SEC Tournament. The Razorbacks defeated No. 9 seed Ole Miss 1-0 on Sunday and upset No. 1 seed South Carolina 1-0 on Tuesday.
Freshman Parker Goins leads the team in goals (8), points (22) and is tied for the team lead in assists (6) with Stefanie Doyle and Nayeli Perez. The Razorbacks have had three keepers see time in the net this season. Jordan Harris leads the way with 15 appearances and has an 8-5-1 record. She has made 42 saves on the season and holds a 0.68 goals against average.
The Commodores have a 19-11-2 all-time record against the Razorbacks. This will be the second time the two teams have squared off this season. Back on Sept. 21, the two teams played to a scoreless draw in Nashville. Taiana Tolleson made her first career start in net and held the Razorbacks scoreless for 110 minutes. This is the second straight year the two teams have met in the SEC Tournament. Last year, the Razorbacks defeated the Dores 1-0 in the quarterfinals.