Soccer suffers 2-1 loss to Mizzou

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Vanderbilt Commodores fell 2-1 to the Missouri Tigers at the Audrey J. Walton Soccer Stadium Friday night.

While the Commodores were unable to generate momentum throughout the first half, Kaylann Boyd knotted the competition off a penalty kick in the 55th minute.

“I thought overall, other than maybe the first 20 minutes we played quite well. Especially in the opening part of the second half.” said head coach Darren Ambrose. “We made some individual mistakes in the game that you can’t legislate for. Overall as a team, in the second half we took it to them and had more of the possession early on. I thought we deservedly tied the game up. But again, individual mistakes cost us on the back end. You can’t make the mistakes we have made, giving the ball away like we did and expect to win games. Individual lapses in concentration have ultimately cost us goals against Arkansas, Kentucky and tonight against Missouri. While we have played some good teams, its disappointing to see us beat ourselves.”

Mizzou’s athleticism was on full display, as the squad maintained possession throughout the first 45 minutes. The Tigers earned a 1-0 lead early in the matchup, as leading scorer Sarah Luebbert picked up a throw in at midfield and broke through the Commodore backline with a powerful run. The freshman blasted a shot past goalkeeper Lauren Demarchi, netting the ball into the right corner.

Heading into the locker room at the half, Missouri led Vandy in shots, 15-1. VU’s lone attempt of the half came from freshman Kaylann Boyd in the 11th minute.

Once play resumed, a new Commodore team took the field for the second half. Connecting passes in the midfield and feeding successful passes into the attacking third, the `Dores quickly leveled the conference clash on a Boyd goal.

Following a Mizzou handball in the box, the confident freshman stepped up for the penalty kick. The Atlanta native then generated the equalizer, placing the ball in the left corner for her fourth goal of the season.

While the Commodore defense showed off several times in the first half with goal line stands, sloppy possession less than 10 minutes after the Commodores tied it up, lifted MU to a 2-1 lead. The VU stumble allowed Kaitlyn Clark enough time to find Luebbert running into the box. Off one touch, the striker made it 2-1 in the 59th minute.

Following two free kicks by Mizzou, the Dores had a nice run in Tiger territory as Boyd laid off a pass to Jackie Welch. Still fighting to draw even, Welch powered forward but was unable to find an open teammate in the attacking third.

With less than 20 seconds to go, the `Dores flooded the attacking third for one last attempt. Welch heaved a mighty throw into the box, but the squad was unable to capitalize off the opportunity.

“Missouri is easily one of the most athletic teams in the league,” Ambrose said. “We changed our system in the last 15 minutes or so to try to find an equalizer, which changed the game. Right now with our depth, changing the system is not something we’re built to do. I thought in the second half we were better, but we have to eliminate the few bad mistakes we are making as they are forcing us to chase the game.”

With the loss, Vanderbilt heads into its final homestand with an 8-6-1 record. VU hosts South Carolina on Oct. 20 and will honor its senior class against Ole Miss on Oct. 23. “We need to put together 90 minutes in these last three games,” Ambrose commented. “We are a good team that lacks a little consistency over the course of the game.”