March 24, 2016
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt women’s soccer team is two games deep into its five game spring schedule. While lacking a few integral parts of the normal starting lineup, the Commodores have put together two positive performances, with a 0-0 draw against Murray State and defeating MTSU, 2-0.
The Commodores kicked off the spring season against Murray State, battling for 90 minutes and leaving the Bluegrass state with a scoreless draw.
“We played very well over the course of the game,” said head coach Darren Ambrose, “especially given it was our first outing of the year. We had pretty good possession but didn’t generate enough in the final third to really threaten to score. Losing a lot of our attacking players returning from last year (Charley, Elliott, Kator, Granados) and moving Sasha Gray into the back line means we have a few new faces up there who are still learning what we are looking for, but that’s what spring games are for.”
Three weeks and two goals later, the `Dores earned their first win of the spring in Murfreesboro against the Blue Raiders. Vanderbilt earned the 1-0 lead against Middle Tennessee with a goal by Erin Meyers off an assist by Kelsey Carrier.
“We created a lot of good chances especially in the second half as we wore them down a bit. To the girl’s credit, they are pretty fit for this time of year which is important given our lack of numbers at the moment. It certainly made the difference on the day as we got stronger as the game went on.”
Carrier, a freshman out of Atlanta, Ga., earned her first goal for the black and gold, sealing the 2-0 victory off an assist by Lydia Simmons.
“I thought from start to finish we carried the game. I was very pleased with our possession and we started to see some of the attacking combinations coming together with Carly Bogan and Kelsey Carrier. They both played very well providing us with targets to play off of. I thought it was fitting that Kelsey Carrier had such a big part in both goals.”
Vanderbilt heads back out on the road for its next contest of the spring, taking on crosstown neighbor, Lipscomb, on April 5th.
