NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Candace West and Margaux Andrews both scored late second half goals in leading Vanderbilt to a 2-0 win over Kentucky on a rainy Friday night at the VU Soccer Complex.
“I thought, considering the weather and elements, the team battled hard and got
the win,” said Vanderbilt head coach Ronnie Woodard after the game.
The Commodores (11-7-1 overall, 5-6 SEC) won their fourth straight game via shutout and clinched a spot in next week’s Southeastern Conference tournament in Orange Beach, Ala. VU, making its first postseason appearance since 2006, will be the seventh seed and will take on No. 2 seed LSU (11-4-3, 8-2-1 SEC) on Wednesday at Noon at the Orange Beach Sportsplex. The two teams went into overtime during the regular season with the Tigers coming away with a 2-1 win on Oct. 11 in Nashville.
The four-game conference win streak is the best since opening league play in 2005 with a 5-0 mark. The four straight shutout wins is also the most clean sheets since that skein.
The two teams battled through the elements throughout the game before VU broke through at the 71:41 mark when Molly Kinsella fired a shot that was saved by UK keeper Laura Burton. The ball ricocheted out to Candace West who kicked it in from inside the five-yard box. It was her second goal of the season with both goals coming in the final two home games.
Margaux Andrews’ goal came with just 10 seconds remaining in the contest from the edge of the 18 yard box off a feed from Megan Kinsella. Andrews fired the shot into the right bottom corner of the net past the diving Burton.
“The thing that I like the most about Candace and Margaux’s goals is that I wanted wide players to score goals,” said Woodard. “That’s what we talked about at halftime. Two left-sided players scored goals for us in the second half. We have evenly dispersed scoring on our team.”
VU finished with a 21-7 shot advantage in the game, including a 14-4 lead in the second half.
Goalkeeper Rachel Bachtel recorded her seventh solo shutout of the year and the team’s ninth. The reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week recorded three saves in the game and now has 16 career shutouts, third best in school history.
“Rachel has gotten progressively better over the years,” said Woodard. “She has matured and turned into a very good shot stopper throughout the season.”
Seniors Megan Forester and Lindsay Ratterman were recognized before the game along with their parents.
Ratterman was also honored at halftime with the annual David Elia 110 Award. The award is named after the father of Kate Elia, Vanderbilt Class of 2000 and a former Commodore soccer player and team captain. The 110 Award recognizes the one player, voted by her teammates, who puts in the extra effort to be the best player she can be and who continuously strives to work for the betterment of her team, modeling Mr. Elia’s own work ethic as a collegiate basketball athlete.
The Commodores will head down to Orange Beach Monday afternoon and will prepare for their matchup against LSU on Wednesday.
“These girls are playing on adrenaline and they’ve established a rhythm going into Orange Beach,” said Woodard. “We’re on our fourth win in a row and we’re thrilled about it. The girls are thrilled to keep playing. We have at least one more guaranteed game.”
