NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Molly and Megan Kinsella both scored a goal and recorded an assist to lead Vanderbilt to a 2-1 win over No. 24 South Carolina on Senior Day Sunday afternoon at the VU Soccer Complex.
The Commodores (7-4-1, 1-3-0 SEC) snapped a three-game losing streak and picked up their first Southeastern Conference win of the year.
Vanderbilt continued its domination of the all-time series against the Gamecocks (8-2-3, 2-1-1), moving to 13-1-2 in the series and 9-0-2 since SC’s lone win in the 1999 campaign.
“I am extremely proud of the way the team played today,” said Vanderbilt head coach Ronnie Coveleskie, who sat out the contest after getting a red card on Friday night. “We had a very tough loss to Florida on Friday and the girls came out today and fought as a team for our seniors. Fighting for each other is an integral part of what Vanderbilt soccer stands for and the girls wanted to come out and win the game for Katie Schulz, Taylor Ryer and Amy Wilcox.
“My assistants Cristin Czubik and Eric Vaughter did a great job of coaching the team to our first SEC win of the year.”
Megan Kinsella put Vanderbilt on the board first, scoring at the 24:38 mark, when she took a pass from her sister Molly and fired from 16 yards out on the right side. The ball hit the left post and deflected in to give VU a 1-0 lead.
“I got lucky with the shot cause it was intended to be a cross and went in,” said Megan Kinsella. “I am glad that it did cause otherwise it could have been a 1-1 tie.”
The Commodores held the lead at halftime and then added to it 10 minutes into the second half when Molly Kinsella received an assist from her sister Megan and scored from six yards out. The ball deflected off a South Carolina defender and into the goal for her fifth goal of the season and third of the weekend.
The Gamecocks controlled possession for the rest of the contest as they tried to rally from the 2-0 deficit. They got on the board at the 75:23 mark when Kayla Grimsley’s cross was accidentally kicked in by a Vanderbilt player to cut the lead to 2-1.
South Carolina kept applying pressure but was denied by Commodore goalkeeper Rachel Bachtel who had five saves in the second half and eight for the game. The Gamecocks last attempt to score came with under a minute left to play when Grimsley got behind the VU defense and fired a shot from the left side that dribbled wide of the goal to the right.
SC ended up with a 19-12 shot advantage with 14 of them coming in the second half.
Molly Kinsella led the Dores with three shots, while Grimsley led the Gamecocks with five.
Three Vanderbilt seniors were honored prior to the contest in their second to last home game of the regular season. Taylor Ryer, Katie Schulz and Amy Wilcox all started in the match.
VU will now play six of its final seven regular season games on the road. The lone remaining home match of the year will be against Ole Miss on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. The ‘Dores will visit Georgia next Friday at 6 p.m. CT and Tennessee next Sunday at noon CT to start a four game road swing.
