NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s soccer team battled toe-to-toe with Ole Miss for 110 minutes before the game ended 0-0 in double overtime Thursday night at the Vanderbilt Soccer Complex.
With the tie the `Dores move their record to 8-7-2, 2-6-1 SEC while the Rebels move to 5-9-3, 3-5-1 SEC. Thursday night’s game marked the final home game of the season for the Commodores.
Vanderbilt now leads the all-time series 4-1-5. Tonight’s game marks the fifth time in six games the two teams have ended in a draw. The lone win in the last six meetings came in 2006 when Vanderbilt won 2-0 in Nashville.
“I thought tonight’s game was a typical hard-fought Vanderbilt-Ole Miss battle that ended in a tie,” head coach Ronnie Coveleskie said. “Coming into the game, our team had a lot at stake and I saw a different Vanderbilt team come out in the second half. Both goalkeepers came up with some big saves and both team’s had great opportunities to score at the net.”
After being out-shot 18-13 at the end of regulation, Vanderbilt turned up the pressure in both overtimes as they out-shot Ole Miss 8-4.
The Commodores had many opportunities to take the 1-0 lead throughout the night, but were unable to get a shot past Ole Miss goalie Alley Ronaldi, who finished the night with a game-high 10 saves.
The `Dores best chance to score came in the second overtime with two minutes and 20 seconds to go when Molly Kinsella broke free down the middle of the field. After getting past the last line of defense, Kinsella found herself all alone with Ronaldi about 15-yards out before her shot sailed wide right of the goal to end the threat.
The `Dores had another opportunity to end the game with one minute to go in the first overtime when Hannah Gonzales’s left-footed strike fell into the out-stretched arms of Ronaldi, who was standing in the center of the goal.
Vanderbilt’s defensive front of Megan Forester, Katherine Dean, Kristine Chaklos and Megan Eddings as well as sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Bachtel came up with some big defensive stops throughout the night to keep the Rebels from scoring.
Bachtel recorded six saves in the shut-out draw, including two diving glove saves that kept the `Dores within one goal of winning the game. The Dublin, Ohio native now has five shut-outs on the year.
Gonzales led the Commodore offensive attack with six shots, including five on goal while Molly Kinsella added six shots of her own and two on goal.
“Tonight’s game was a great college soccer game to watch,” Coveleskie added. “With two games remaining, our biggest goal now is too battle as hard as we possibly can. We need to play these last two games with a tremendous amount of Vanderbilt pride.”
Tonight’s contest marked the final home game for seniors Taylor Ryer, Katie Schulz and Amy Wilcox.
The Commodores will travel to Starkville, Miss., Oct. 26 to play Mississippi State before they close out the 2008 regular season at Kentucky on Oct. 31 in Lexington.
