The 2025 season brought several firsts for Vanderbilt Soccer. After winning the SEC championship in November, the Commodores earned the program’s first No.1-seed ever in the NCAA DI Women’s Soccer Tournament. The following Friday, they downed Tennessee Tech 2-0 in the first round, followed by a thrilling 3-2 double-overtime victory over Clemson in the second round. Now, Vanderbilt has earned the program’s first Elite Eight appearance on the back of a 1-0 win over LSU in the NCAA Tournament’s third round — the third time the programs have met this season.
On the horizon is, naturally, another first. The Commodores will host Texas Christian University (TCU) on Nov. 29 with a trip to the 2025 NCAA Tournament’s final rounds on the line, both the semifinals and the championship matches being uncharted territory for Vanderbilt. What will Vanderbilt Soccer have to do well on Saturday to down the Horned Frogs and advance to the semifinals in Kansas City, Missouri? Let’s talk about it.
Forward firepower
Both Vanderbilt and TCU possess offensive firepower in their forward lines; the Commodores have the 2025 SEC Forward of the Year, Sydney Watts, and the Horned Frogs have All-Big 12 First Team honoree Seven Castain. These players are extremely similar in their play and goal-scoring abilities, and whichever of them has the better day possesses the potential to be the game’s deciding factor.
Castain has had one of the best offensive seasons in TCU Soccer history. The Draper, Utah, native scored 17 goals this season while also tallying 4 assists for a total of 38 points. She is an elite shooter, with 54% of her shots taken this season being on goal. In the Horned Frogs’ 2025 NCAA Tournament run, she has been perfect, each of her five shots on goal having found the back of the net.
The senior had a quiet game against defending national champion University of North Carolina in the third round of the tournament, failing to log so much as a shot across the 100 minutes she played. However, just as quickly as Castain’s goal scoring goes cold, it has the same ability to get hot again. For example, headed into the tournament, Castain was amidst a five-game scoring drought, her longest of the season. Despite this drought, though, she put up three astounding goals against Grambling State in the first round. In fact, each of the times when Castain has gone more than two games without logging a goal, she has put up a multi-goal performance in the next game.
Having an equally impressive season — if not more impressive — is Vanderbilt’s Watts. The Lenexa, Kansas, native has been an offensive pacemaker for the Commodores this season, tallying 15 goals and 3 assists. For her 12 regular-season goals, she was named SEC Forward of the Year, along with being an All-SEC First Team selection, having led the conference in goals — a tough task for a conference known for its offensive stalwarts. Watts has been quiet in the postseason compared to Castain, though, with just a single goal scored across the tournament. Her one goal, however, came at a pivotal moment. Down by one against Clemson, Watts received the ball at the top of the box with a defender on her back and was able to turn and fire a shot into the back of the net. Despite the fact that she has only scored once, she’s kept pressure on opposing goalkeepers by taking plenty of shots in the postseason (10 total).
The matchup between Castain and Watts will be a showdown between two of the nation’s most prolific scorers this season, who have led their team to this moment. Neither of these fierce competitors wants to go home, and both have the potential to be difference makers for their team.
Goalkeeper showdown
The matchup between Vanderbilt and TCU will not only present a matchup between two offensive specialists, but fans should also keep an eye on the goalkeeper matchup between Sara Wojdelko and Olivia Geller. Each of these goalkeepers has been lights out in the postseason for their team.
Wojdelko, better known as Wojo to her team and the Vanderbilt Faithful, was named SEC Goalkeeper of the Year and selected to the All-SEC First Team. She has quickly proven that the accolades were no fluke in the postseason. The Northville, Michigan, native has secured clean sheets against opponents in two games during Vanderbilt’s tournament run — Tennessee Tech and LSU. Wojdelko also recorded six saves across the three postseason games, four of which came against LSU in the third round. In fact, the only two goals the graduate student allowed in the postseason came against Clemson from penalty kicks by the Tigers.
Time and time again throughout the Commodores’ postseason run, Wojdelko has shown up and showed out. Perhaps her biggest moment came in the third round against LSU, when she stopped a penalty kick taken by Ida Hermannsdottir — the Tigers’ senior midfielder and offensive anchor. Expect one of the most clutch goalies in Commodore history to show up for her team once again and attempt to lead her team to the national semifinal.
On the other side of the goalkeeper matchup will be Geller, a sophomore, who across TCU’s 22 games has faced 153 shots on goal, allowing only 14 to slip by her. She, too, has been on fire in the postseason, having allowed just one goal across the three rounds, which came against defending national champion University of North Carolina. In that same game, she blanked the Tar Heels in penalty kicks, allowing her teammate AJ Hennessey to step up to the line and secure the Horned Frogs’ victory.
Viewers should look at the matchup between Geller and Wojdelko to be not only a showdown between two very similar styles of goalies, but also between the defensive leaders of both sides.
Homefield advantage
Between two similarly matched teams, Vanderbilt could potentially have the leg up over TCU due to its crowd and home-field advantage. Vanderbilt fans have shown up for the Commodores when they needed them most throughout the first three rounds — all of which the ‘Dores hosted at the Vanderbilt Soccer Complex. Once again, the Black and Gold will be hosting their opponent for the final game that will be played at the ‘Plex this fall, the place where Vanderbilt has yet to lose all season. To come out on top with the win, it will need to play its most complete game this season — a little help from the crowd that has made the ‘Plex loud all season wouldn’t hurt either.
Vanderbilt will host No. 2-seeded TCU on Nov. 29 at 6:30 p.m. CST. If the Commodores come out with the win, they will advance to their first-ever NCAA Tournament semifinal, which will take place on Dec. 5 in Kansas City, Missouri.
