Women's soccer defeats Miss. State 1-0 in First Round of SEC Tournament

Women’s soccer defeats Miss. State 1-0 in First Round of SEC Tournament

11/4/2004

The Commodores faced a very tough Mississippi State opponent Thursday in the first round of the SEC Tournament in Auburn, Alabama. Vanderbilt came up victorious beating the Bulldogs 1-0 with a first half goal from Alexis Yoculan.

The Bulldogs came out very tough, tenacious and ready to play against the Commodores. Alexis Yoculan put in the Commodores only goal just 32 minutes into the game. Yoculan received the pass from Sarah Dennis after Dennis dribbled around two Bulldog defenders. “We played a very hard game tonight,” said Yoculan. “We didn’t play as good as we thought we would but we were able to battle through and get the win.”

Said Head Coach Ronnie Coveleskie Hill, “All I can say is I’m glad it’s over. Miss. State played a fantastic game. They challenged us as a team. Alexis scored a world class goal which won us the game. I hope to be able to enjoy this win for at least a few minutes since we haven’t won a first round game since 2000.”

Goalkeeper Tyler Griffin had three saves but came out of the goal box a few times during the game to collect the loose ball. The Commodores had 13 shots to Miss. State’s 10. “I didn’t have as much to do as expected,” said Griffin. “Our defense played very well. We are ready for Tennessee and ready to go at them again.”

The last time Vanderbilt faced Tennessee, they were outscored 1-0. “Tennessee is number one for a reason,” said Hill. “They are good with the ball as well as away from the ball. We need to totally refocus on an entirely different team.” The Commodores are hoping to revenge the loss in Knoxville in the second round of the SEC tournament tomorrow. Game starts at 7:30 p.m. Check vucommodores.com for updated action and stats from Auburn.