After starting its home slate off with a 5-0 win over crosstown rival Belmont on Aug. 22, Vanderbilt Soccer (2-0-1) hosted St. Mary’s (1-2-1) at the Plex. Vanderbilt extended its win streak to two, defeating the Gaels 4-1, giving head coach Darren Ambrose his 100th win at the program’s helm.
“We’re going to have a lot of the ball,” Ambrose said. “Putting in four [goals] on Thursday and five [goals] today [reflects] how far we’ve come in a year with our mentality in front of the goal.”
The starting lineup was without standout sophomore forward Ella Eggleston, who was removed from the game against Belmont early in the first half after suffering a leg injury. Ambrose indicated that Eggleston would be fine during Thursday’s postgame press conference, so her missing status was somewhat surprising.
The Commodores and the Gaels traded possessions for the first eight minutes. Vanderbilt’s first shot on goal came from Addie Porter, who missed just above the crossbar.
Vanderbilt would make up for the miss just seconds later when Julianne Leskauskas intercepted St. Mary’s pass on the left side of Vanderbilt’s offensive third, promptly crossing a ball that was finished by Sydney Watts on a header to the left corner of the goal. The Commodores continued their momentum after their first goal, barely letting the Gaels over the midfield line while adding two more shots on goal.
Vanderbilt’s Caroline Betts, the Commodores’ first substitution, entered the game at right forward. Betts had also suffered an injury against Belmont, but clearly, it didn’t limit her.
After a brief hydration break, St. Mary’s came out firing, intercepting a Vanderbilt throw-in to bring a pass upfield to Sydney Middaugh, who finished in front of goal to equalize at 1-1. St. Mary’s stayed on offense, looking to take the lead, with Middaugh taking another shot just seconds later, which missed just off target.
After the aforementioned burst of offense from St. Mary’s, the Commodores resettled on both sides of the ball. It looked as if Betts had earned a second goal for the ‘Dores, but the linesman called Betts offsides. Nonetheless, the Commodores added three more shots, two of which were on goal, and dominated possession time. With just under eight minutes left to go in the half, Watts added her second goal of the day after collecting a deflected shot by Abi Brighton, giving Vanderbilt a 2-1 lead. Vanderbilt would tally another two shots on goal before halftime but couldn’t add to its one-goal lead before the half ended.
“If I look at [Watts’s] growth from freshman year, she learned how to work hard,” said Ambrose. “She’s a great player, a great finisher, and I would expect her to score some more goals.”
The Commodores wasted no time adding to their lead in the second half when Jessica Hinton’s throw-in was beautifully collected and crossed across the box by Deresky, who found Leskauskas, who promptly put it away in the bottom left corner of the goal. The goal, which pushed the lead to 3-1, was the graduate transfer from Florida’s first goal in the Black and Gold. Vanderbilt continued to pour on the energy when Porter ripped a shot in the 52nd minute and put the Commodores up by three goals.
Vanderbilt continued to generate plenty of offense, taking seven shots in the first 22 minutes of second-half play, as opposed to St. Mary’s one. After the four goals, the Commodores went into cruise control. While they didn’t add to their score, they didn’t lack for opportunities, adding six more shots and taking nine corner kicks to finish the game. The win marked Vanderbilt’s second in a row and kept it unbeaten on the season at 2-0-1. The Commodores will take the field again on Aug. 30, continuing their six-game homestand against Columbia. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CDT.
