The Commodores played a trio of games in the last ten days, losing in overtime on March 21 to Towson 15-14, comfortably beating Old Dominion 17-7 on March 25 and falling to East Carolina 15-10 on April 1.
Vanderbilt started fast against the Towson Tigers, with early goals from Cate Bradley and Sammy Nuchow. After goals from Kayla Rieu and Lila Huddles, the Commodores had built up a comfortable 4-1 lead. Towson was able to cut into the Vanderbilt lead as the first quarter waned, but Bradley’s second goal of the contest gave theCommodores a 5-3 lead into the first break.
After two Towson goals to begin the second quarter, the Commodores scored four goals in under three minutes to build their advantage to 9-5. Bradley got her squad into double digits with her third goal of the day. At the half, Vanderbilt led 10-7.
In the third quarter, Bradley scored yet again, setting a new career-high of four goals on just four shots. In the fourth quarter, the Tigers erased the Commodore lead, scoring four consecutive goals and tying the contest at 12. The teams would trade blows for the rest of the quarter, sitting tied at 14 apiece when the whistle blew.
The first overtime was scoreless. As time became was dwindling in the second overtime, the Tigers found the back of the next and won, 15-14.
Vanderbilt looked to bounce back from this crushing defeat four days later as it hosted the Old Dominion Big Blue in a conference game.
Bradley picked up right where she left off, again scoring four goals on just four shots. By halftime, Vanderbilt led by 6 goals and never looked back. Nancy Halleron also scored a hat trick as the Commodores eventually went on to win 17-7.
This victory was the Commodores’ first in conference play, bringing them to a 1-1 record in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) and a 3-7 record overall.
Vanderbilt looked to keep the momentum going when they played on April 1 against the East Carolina Pirates in another AAC battle. Despite hat tricks from Paige Finneran and Josie Ward, Vanderbilt was dammed by a third quarter that saw them get outscored 7-2. The Commodores would eventually lose by a tally of 15-10.
The Commodores will look to right the ship when they host No. 5 James Madison on April 8 at 11 a.m. CDT.
