NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt hopes the end of this week will be better than the start of it.
Shortly after learning they had indeed made the NCAA Tournament on Monday, the Commodores came to grips with the slight disappointment they would be on the road for the event’s first round. And when they tried to get a short practice in later that afternoon, rain and bitter cold wreaked havoc on head coach Darren Ambrose’s plans for his team to train.
More cold mixed with snow sent Vandy inside for practice Tuesday – and going through workouts on turf is never ideal, Ambrose said.
But now all that is behind them and the Commodores have a task at hand at 4 p.m. CT Friday in Clemson, South Carolina. It’s there that an NCAA Tournament run can begin for Vanderbilt for the third year in a row.
“The focus is always on us,” Ambrose said. “The focus is really on what do we need to do better than we did the last game even though our opponent is different. We still have some adjustments we need to make that we can make. What is it in the course of what we do that we need to do a little bit better?”
The Commodores had a three-match winning streak halted Nov. 7 in the SEC Tournament thanks to a 2-0 loss to eventual tournament champion South Carolina. It was just the fifth defeat of the season for Vandy and all of those losses came against NCAA Tournament teams.
Defending hasn’t been the issue for Ambrose’s unit. Vanderbilt is tied for ninth nationally having surrendered only 13 goals in 20 matches. It has also recorded 10 shutouts this season.
Offensively, Vandy has found the back of the net just 36 times (64th nationally) and a 1.8 goals per game average is 76th nationally. The Commodores have to find a better way to find the back as scoring chances will be harder to come by in the postseason.
“We’re very good at keeping it. It’s how do we translate that into being a little bit more dangerous in the final third?” Ambrose said. “We established we can keep it, we’ve established we can knock passes together, but it’s key passes in critical moments in the 18-yard box that, this year, has been inconsistent.
“We’ve been really good in games and not very sharp in games. It’s just reminding us of how do we get the ball into those dangerous places?”
Clemson (11-6-1) began its season undefeated through eight matches until running into defending national champion Florida State in late September. Florida State also ousted the Tigers from the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament earlier this month.
The Tigers are a bit offensively-challenged as well having scored just 33 times this year. But Ambrose warned of their ability to be dangerous on set pieces.
Clemson earns 7.2 corner kicks per match.
“We’ve got to be better at set pieces,” Ambrose said. “We’ve given up two (goals) on set pieces in the last four games. That’s disappointing. That’s as many as we’ve given up in my time here in an entire season. We’ve got to be a bit sharper, a bit tighter. We know we have to be a bit more focused.”
Mariana Speckmaier leads the Clemson attack with six goals while Renee Guion is the catalyst for the offense with her 12 assists. Keeper Sandy MacIver has made 39 saves in 15 matches.
The winner of Friday’s match will face the winner of the match between No. 2 overall seed UCLA (14-4-1) or Lamar (16-6) next week.
