In the final game of a six-game homestand, Vanderbilt returned to the Plex for a game against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. The Commodores entered with a 4-0-2 record after a convincing 3-0 win over Middle Tennessee last week. Vanderbilt bested the Colonels 7–0, led by two goals from Rachel Deresky.
“We had enough volume [of shots] if they went in,” head coach Darren Ambrose said. “I thought we looked like we were having fun. I thought they looked like they were expressing themselves. I thought they were creative. Every player that went in made a difference. We started strong, and we finished strong.”
As soon as the whistle blew, the Commodores were on the attack. After a lobbed pass over the EKU defense, Deresky was one-on-one with EKU goalkeeper Marah Krick. A quick shot with her left foot put the Commodores on the board first, just 13 seconds into the game. It was the fastest goal ever scored by a Vanderbilt player.
Vanderbilt kept the pressure on through the first 10 minutes, as Sydney Watts placed a perfect cross in front of the goal for Julianne Leskauskas at the 7:36 mark. However, Krick was standing in front of Leskauskas and blocked the shot attempt.
Both sides traded possessions as the Commodores led 1-0 with 25 minutes remaining in the half. Despite not finding the back of the net, Vanderbilt dominated possession and left minimal work for Vanderbilt goalkeeper Sara Wojdelko.
Vanderbilt’s Maci Teater put in a contested cross right in front of the Colonels’ goal, but no one was able to finish. Just seconds later, with 20:30 remaining in the half, Deresky put in another goal for the Commodores. Assisted by Adi Porter, Deresky buried it into the bottom right hand corner to give Vanderbilt an early 2-0 lead.
The Commodores went into cruise control for the remainder of the half as they protected their lead. EKU tried to spark its offense, making three substitutions with 17 minutes left in the half, but it still struggled to keep possession of the ball. The Commodores’ defense, led by Hannah McLaughlin and Jessica Hinton, remained airtight.
An EKU free kick with 9:30 left amounted to nothing as Wojdelko stopped the ball and secured it safely. A final shot by Mia Castillo on a Vanderbilt corner kick with 7:20 remaining in the half was off target. The Commodores entered halftime with a comfortable lead and showed no signs of slowing down.
As the second half began, the Commodore offense went right back to work. Just two minutes into the half, Porter launched a shot at the top of the net, but the keeper just knocked it out. Three consecutive corners ensued as Vanderbilt kept the pressure on the Colonels’ defense. Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, none of these opportunities materialized into goals.
After a final corner kick by the Commodores, an EKU defender accidentally knocked the ball to its own goal, slipping past Krick with 36 minutes remaining in the game. It was the first own goal recorded by an opposing team for Vanderbilt this season. Before that goal could be celebrated, Vivian Akyirem knocked in a goal of her own just 48 seconds later. Now, with a 4-0 lead, Ambrose opted to put in some backups.
“[Vivian] is really dangerous,” Ambrose said. “She’s a goal scorer and has lots of creativity.”
After more shots on goal for the Commodores, Caroline Betts scored with 23:18 left after kicking it in the top half of the net. With a 5-0 lead, Vanderbilt kept up the intensity on defense, rarely letting the Colonels past midfield. Wojdelko had just two saves through 70 minutes of play.
Watts found the back of the net for the first time of the night with 12:37 remaining in the game. An unassisted breakaway pushed the new EKU goalkeeper, Ruby Morgan, out of position and allowed Betts to tap in the ball.
A few minutes later, Mia Gonzalez scored her first-ever goal for Vanderbilt with 6:20 left in the game to finish the evening. Vanderbilt’s 7-0 win was its largest margin of victory this season.
“We need to capitalize on more opportunities [in SEC play],” Deresky said after the game. “We scored seven goals, which sounds great, but we had probably had twice, maybe even triple, the amount of opportunities.”
The Commodores will now hit the road to begin SEC play. They face Auburn on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 6:30 pm CDT.
