COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Vanderbilt women’s soccer team suffered its first Southeastern Conference defeat of the 2012 season Sunday, falling at No. 15 Missouri, 2-0, in the Commodores’ fifth straight road game.
“Full credit to Missouri; what a fantastic team they have,” VU Head Coach Derek Greene said. “They’re having a great year, for good reason. They have a ton of talent on that team that poses a lot of problems all over the field.”
The Tigers notched 39 shots in the game, firing at Vanderbilt’s goal from all over the field. Only 13 of Missouri’s attempts were on frame, and sophomore goalkeeper Alexa Levick made 11 stops in net for the Commodores. It marked the second time this season Levick has had a double-digit save total.
Vanderbilt moved from the 4-3-3 system they have played all season to a 4-4-2 Sunday and created a number of chances early in the game. Sophomore Ashley Oswald–who earned her first start of the season–and freshman Cheyna Williams both had looks in the contest’s opening minutes.
“We had debated on playing a 4-4-2 over the last couple of weeks,” Coach Greene said. “Our team did a great job of executing everything we asked of them for the first 20 minutes and we gave Missouri a lot of problems.”
Missouri broke through in the 23rd minute when Kaysie Clark assisted Jessica Greer on her second goal of the season.
“We have to learn that when we get down 1-0, we have to dig deeper as a team instead of going into a shell,” Greene said. “We didn’t quit once they scored, but we were not working hard enough to win. Starting eight freshmen and sophomores, we need to learn to grow and mature in that kind of situation.”
The Tigers scored their second goal just over two minutes into the second half. Clark earned her second assist of the game in finding Taiwo Adeshigbin to give Missouri a 2-0 lead with 43 minutes to play.
The only team in the SEC to open with two weekends on the road, the Commodores earned five points in their first four league games. Vanderbilt will finally have its conference home opener this Friday, Sept. 28, when Alabama visits the VU Soccer Complex for a 7 p.m. CT game.
The Commodores will then play host to South Carolina on Sunday, Sept. 30, in a 1 p.m. contest that will be televised by CSS.
