No. 10 Tennessee soccer returned home for a non-conference match against the Northwestern Wildcats. Sunday’s match was the last non-conference matchup before Southeastern Conference play begins, and the last home match until Sept. 24. The Lady Vols pulled out a tough 1-0 win over the Wildcats.
“Good win at Regal today,” head coach Joe Kirt said after the match. “Tough conditions on a Sunday, and proud of the group for getting a result, going into the conference part of the season undefeated. They’ve done a great job getting us to this point, and now we gotta get into a tough SEC schedule starting on Friday down at LSU. Wasn’t our best performance, especially in the second half, but they got it done.”
It took a while for the game to find its flow. Then, in the 12th minute, Ines Derrien put the Lady Vols up with a penalty shot. It was her first goal of the season. Tatum Cheatham got inside on the Wildcats’ Maddie Fennerty, who committed the foul.
“It was really good for her to just get the first one under her belt,” Lady Vols forward Kylee Simmons said. “And so then all the rest are gonna come ’cause I feel like she’s been kind of knocking on that door, so I’m really proud that she got the kick in and buried it.”
Tennessee penetrated a few times and got decent position, but was unable to score. Northwestern challenged the Lady Vols and did just enough to disrupt their attempts at the last second. However, that did create some corner opportunities.
On the flip side, the Lady Vols defense bothered the Wildcats enough to keep their shots down. In the first half, Northwestern only took three shots with two on goal. In contrast, Tennessee took eight shots with three on goal.
Shortly after the second half started, a 30-minute weather delay began. Coming out of that delay, the Lady Vols didn’t quite look like the same team.
“The break did us a little dirty,” Simmons said. “I think we had a hard time finding our groove again with the weather. But Northwestern did a good job of coming out on the front foot, so credit to them, but I think they just put us under a little bit more pressure than we were prepared for right away.”
Northwestern approached the goal just over 10 minutes into the second half, but Cayden Daniels made a huge save to keep the Lady Vols on top. Neither team controlled the ball for long, and the shots were not on the mark.
Northwestern, however, did outshoot Tennessee in the second half 9-1 to finish the match with a 12-9 edge in shots. However, none of them resulted in a goal. Out of 12 shots, only two were on goal.
After the game, Simmons spoke on the improvements Tennessee needed to make as it gets into SEC play. Although she was pleased to remain unbeaten, she also noted areas to work on.
“We need to do a better job of being able to fix problems on the field as they happen,” Simmons said. “Other teams are scouting us, and we’re six games in, going into conference play, and we’re gonna have to be able to make changes on the field.”
The Lady Vols will now head to Baton Rouge, La., on Friday, Sept. 11 to face LSU. Match time is set for 8 p.m. EDT.
