Soccer blanks Mississippi State 3-0

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Megan Kinsella’s goal in the 68th minute broke open a scoreless game and sparked Vanderbilt to a 3-0 win over Mississippi State Thursday night at the VU Soccer Complex.

The Commodores won their second straight game to improve to 9-7-1 overall and 3-6 in Southeastern Conference action, while the Bulldogs dropped to 8-7-2 and 0-7-2 in league action. VU moved from 11th place in the overall conference standings into eighth place after the night’s action with two games left in the regular season. The top eight teams in the standings advance to the SEC tournament in two weeks in Orange Beach, Ala.

Megan Kinsella’s goal came off a drop feed from Megan Forester and she fired from 10 yards out into an empty net as the keeper came up to try and stop the run.

Molly Kinsella then scored at the 79:07 mark off an assist from Nicole Lukens to extend the lead. Less than 30 seconds later, Candace West scored her first goal of the season off an assist from Megan Kinsella to give the Dores a commanding 3-0 lead.

The three goals scored was the most for VU in league play this season and the most since scoring three in a 3-1 win over Oklahoma on September 6.

“I was really proud with the way the girls played tonight,” said Vanderbilt head coach Ronnie Woodard. “The Kinsella sisters came up huge with Megan scoring a goal with a nice assist to Candace West on a goal and Molly scored another goal as well. Once we scored the first goal you could see the enthusiasm and confidence raise and then we started playing.”

The shutout was the second straight for the Commodores and the team’s seventh of the year. It was the fifth solo shutout for Rachel Bachtel and the 14th of her career. She finished with six saves, while Taryn Holland ended up with 10 for the Bulldogs.

VU finished with a 28-11 shot advantage and a 13-6 shot on goal lead for the game. Molly Kinsella led the team with nine shots, while Chelsea Stewart had three shots on goal to lead in that category.

The Commodores had 10 shots in the first half including three on goal but could not convert and went into halftime in a scoreless tie. Dana Schwartz had a penalty kick from six yards out but could not convert as Holland made a diving stop.

Vanderbilt will make its final road trip of the regular season this weekend as the team travels to Oxford to take on Ole Miss on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Rebels are 11-3-2 overall and 5-1-2 in league action after defeating Kentucky 4-1 on Thursday night.

“Our goal right now is to get to Orange Beach and we are taking it one game at a time with our full focus on a really good Ole Miss team,” said Woodard.