After 90 minutes in chilly, 50-degree Nashville weather, the No. 8 Vanderbilt Commodores (10-3-6) emerged victorious, fending off the Lipscomb Bisons (14-4-4), 4-1. Coming off of the loss against Alabama in the SEC Tournament, the Commodores made a statement by dominating time of possession, winning the shots battle 13-9.
Sydney Watts was the offense’s star, recording her second brace of the season, including a dagger fourth goal in the 67th minute. Goalkeeper Sara Wojdelko would also shine, recording three saves without conceding a goal.
“We walked into that game just knowing that it was going to be a grind,” Watts said. “Lipscomb is not going to come and give us an easy game, you know. We’re rivals, we’re across the street schools. Who owns the city?”
First Half
Lipscomb opened the game physically, pushing Vanderbilt’s defenders and midfielders off the ball frequently to overturn possessions or force throw-ins. Much of the first five minutes was played on Vanderbilt’s half of the field. But after those five minutes, Vanderbilt dominated possession. After taking the ball over the midline, Rachel Deresky produced a cross attempt that was blocked for a corner kick, and from there, Vanderbilt would not give the ball up. The Commodores held possession for over five minutes, working the ball from player to player along the midfield and back to goalkeeper Wojdelko for a few touches.
The Commodores were combating Lipscomb’s physicality with strength of their own. Caroline Betts powered through two defenders to extend Vanderbilt’s possession, which later found the feet of Jessica Hinton in space. The graduate defender took a touch and lobbed a through ball to the left post, just a tad too far to find a head, thus marking the first true scoring attempt of the game.
It was shortly after that both teams’ goalies would finally get some action. Deresky, just a hair outside the 18-yard box, sent one off the left foot to the bottom left corner. Lipscomb goalkeeper Kaina Cesar would dive to punch the ball out of bounds, marking the first save of the game. In the ensuing possession, Wojdelko eventually broke up a Lipscomb breakaway, allowing Vanderbilt to clear the ball with the crisis averted.
In the 23rd minute, Deresky once again had a strong cross that appeared on target to a wide-open Ella Eggleston, patiently waiting for the time to connect her head to the ball. Then, a blur of white zipped by as a Lipscomb defender flew past Eggleston and ricocheted the ball away. The Bisons averted crisis that time, but Vanderbilt wouldn’t go away. Courtney Jones sent a shot from the top of the 18-yard-box sail over the crossbar and shortly after, another Eggleston header — one that connected this time — was booted away on the goal line.
In the 29th minute, yet another one of Betts’s crosses was blocked out of bounds by a Lipscomb defender for a corner kick on the right side. Vanderbilt finally broke through as she sent a ball to the far post, where it would meet the feet of Sydney Watts. Watts found the back of the net for her eighth goal of the season as Jones recorded her fourth assist. Just over a minute later, a loose ball on Lipscomb’s half found its way to Maci Teater’s feet in the open field. After a couple of touches, Teater rifled a shot from behind the right corner of the 18-yard box, traveling right across the middle of the field and hugging the net in the top left corner. The junior — who already had six assists to her name — would finally put in her first goal of the season. The scoreboard flashed 2-0 in favor of the Commodores in the blink of an eye.
“Syd [Watts] and Maci [Teater]…can hit a ball,” said Coach Darren Ambrose. “I’m excited for Maci because she’s assisted in [six] goals this year and we know [a goal] is in her. And what a day and what an opportunity and what an occasion for her to bring that out.”
From there, Lipscomb would turn up the intensity, especially up front. In the 35th minute, Lipscomb senior Kiara Pralle — acting as a workhorse up front all game — went chasing after a lobbed through ball on the right side. She was alone and the Lipscomb crowd could feel it, getting louder as she sprinted towards the ball. Hinton slid in to poke the ball off the pitch after Pralle took her first touch, easing the scare and flattening the Bisons’ momentum.
The first half ended with the Commodores ahead 2-0. Much of the story of the half centered around time of possession, with Vanderbilt dominating its time on the ball and preventing Lipscomb from developing any offensive rhythm. Vanderbilt led in corner kicks 5-0 and shots 7-2, showcasing its ability to both maximize its own scoring opportunities and limit Lipscomb from gaining any momentum.
Second Half
Vanderbilt would threaten to score once again at the start of the second half when Francesca Yanchuk would soar down the right side of the field and send a cross to the far post for Caroline Betts. Her pass went just wide and out of bounds. Lipscomb matched with a threat of its own when Lucy Hurst found Hailey Johnson in space. The sophomore from Charlotte took a few touches before aiming top right. Tracking the ball, Wojdelko lept in the air, stretching her left arm just enough to smack the ball over the crossbar for a save.
Betts received the ball on the left side of the pitch in the 53rd minute before getting cut off and forced to the middle. She traversed midfield with her eyes up and spotted a streaking Jones to her right, sending a pass her way. Jones would control the ball and — with no one around — shoot the ball on the ground, past Cesar’s outstretched hand, and into the bottom left of the goal for a 3-0 lead.
Vanderbilt would pour it on in the 67th minute when Deresky facilitated a three-on-two breakaway with attackers on each side. Deresky sent the ball to her left, finding the feet of Watts, who torched the defense and fired past Cesar for her second goal of the game, extending the Commodore lead to 4-0.
With 15 minutes left in the match, Ambrose subbed out Wojdelko — who was eyeing a shutout — for Kate Devine, who received a loud standing ovation from the Commodore faithful. Devine — a graduate student from Brentwood, Tennessee — has spent the last five years at Vanderbilt, logging nearly 5,000 minutes in goal for the Commodores, including starting every game last season. Despite not appearing in a match since Oct. 4 this season, Devine took her last stand in front of the home crowd, recording a save two minutes into her time on the pitch and receiving another roar from the crowd she’s performed in front of for half a decade.
In the 84th minute, Lipscomb finally got on the board. Taylor James would dribble the ball into the 18-yard box and send a pass to Chloe Iliff, who beat Devine to the bottom left corner and erased the Commodore’s scoreless bout. The goal would mark the first of Iliff’s collegiate career.
Six minutes and a final whistle later, and the Commodores were officially in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. The ‘Dores showed out in front of their home crowd for the final time this season and will now look forward to Tallahassee, where they’ll face the No. 1 Florida State Seminoles.
“If you wanna be the best, you have to play the best,” said Ambrose. “I’m excited, I wanna see where we are. If I know this team, we rise to the level of the opponent and I have…confidence that we’ll show up and this is gonna be a great game.”
The date and time of Vanderbilt’s matchup against Florida State has yet to be announced.
