KNOXVILLE, Tenn. –– No. 9 Tennessee soccer hosted in-state rival No. 3 Vanderbilt on Sunday at Regal Soccer Stadium. The Lady Vols dropped their first match of the season 3-1 after the Commodores pushed across three goals in the second half. Two of those came from Sydney Watts in the 47th and 61st minutes.
Tennessee’s Ines Derrien scored her third goal of the year in the 74th minute to cut the Commodores’ lead in half, but in the 78th minute, Megan Hinnenkamp put the game away with her fourth goal of the season for Vanderbilt. Tennessee opened its second consecutive match with no first-half shots, just the fourth time since 2001.
The Lady Vols finished with nine second-half shots, four on goal, and showed more offensively than in Thursday night’s match. Derrien really showed a lot of grit and competitiveness. She finished the match with six shots taken, and had a couple of great looks that were just off the mark.
After the match, Lady Vols head coach Joe Kirt spoke with the media on the result. He also explained Kylee Simmons’ second-half goal that was wiped away due to a non-reviewable call by the officials.
Opening statement
“Obviously disappointed in the result today. Came up short in a couple moments. However, really positive response from our team after Thursday night in terms of putting together a solid 90 minutes of work, competing at a really high level. We’ve got to finish plays, but certainly a performance, and our team left it out on the field, and that’s what we asked of them and they did that. And against a good Vanderbilt team that punished us in a couple moments where we came up a little bit short in some things.”
Q: What positives will you take from this result to carry through the rest of the season?
“Not really the result. There’s not a lot of positives from the result, but the performance. I think their approach to the game, their willingness to work, to compete, the physicality, was probably one of our most consistent performances this year in that. We had a good one against UVA for 90 minutes, but this was probably the next best performance of putting in work. So I think that’s what we need to take away from this and carry with us moving into the rest of conference.”
Q: On Thursday you talked about your team’s competition and preparation. It sounds like you’re happier with the competition today. How do you feel about the preparation for this game?
“Yeah, I think we moved some things around tactically. They did a good job of playing within those changes and taking advantage of some opportunities. I think we created a number of really good looks in and around the box, but we need to finish. We need to have a finished product with that, whether that’s a service or a shot on target. Obviously had a couple of those. Their keeper had to make a couple plays. But games are won and lost in the box, and that was the case today. We gotta make a couple more plays in each box, but the work’s there in between. So I think that’s the biggest takeaway, but they did a great job with the preparation and implementing it today.”
Q: You kept Vanderbilt quiet in the first half before the breakdown in the second. What was so effective in the first half, and what changed after?
“Yeah, I thought we did well. The chances they did have, a couple set pieces obviously, but everything else is pretty much from distance for the most part. Second half they come out, and we don’t make a play in the first two minutes and give up an early goal. And then I think after that, by and large, we had most of the game to start that second half. And again, against the run of play, we get a throw, we give it away right in front of our bench, and it’s one ball in, and gotta be a little bit stronger in that moment.
Milee did a good job against the two front there with Nyla being out. But we lost that matchup, and they’ve got two kids up top that are big, strong and physical. Milee, Cora, Kam, Tesia, those guys did a solid job for 90 minutes. And then we give up a third one, which was the back breaker, on just a poor clearance out of the back, and they make a play around the end and around the corner and score.
Again, tactically we were good, but we gotta be able to step up and make plays, like I said, in both boxes. And they made a couple more plays than we did tonight. We’ve got players to do it, have the belief in them to do it, and they will moving forward.”
Q: On the Kylee Simmons goal that got wiped off, can you take us inside exactly what the call was?
“Yeah, I certainly thought it was her own player that was going to compete for the ball. And then the center blew the whistle, so we couldn’t review it. He said he blew it before the ball crossed the line, so we’re not able to take a look at it. I haven’t looked at it close enough. It certainly looked like it was just her own player competing for it, but a lot of bodies in there for us to see. He was in a better spot. But yeah, we didn’t have a chance to take a second look. But again, it’s our competitiveness, our grittiness, that’s in the box making stuff happen, and that’s part of it.”
