Lady Vols⚽️#23 Tennessee @ Alabama 7PM Sunday 9/22 ESPNU

#5,181
#5,181
We deserved to win at South Carolina and settled for a tie. Probably should have lost tonight yet rallied for a tie. It all equals out in the end...I guess.

Just some observations. Our roster is so depleted due to injuries it's hard to determine if we are good or not.

We were completely out of synch in the first half. Not sure why. The answer may lie in starting Simmons after two weeks away from the team. Turbo warned of the fatigue factor. She is a great player but was unable to get to several passes which ended any attempt at a rally.

The good is we played hard against a very good defensive team. After our first goal the announcers were confident there was not enought time to tie let alone win. That was a great come-back on a team that does not give up goals.

The bad has to do with Mississippi State's first two goals. The second one was a gift from Brick with an assist. The first one is an example of players not engaged. The ball went through three Tennessee players' legs. It appeared that the ball was not hit that hard. All three Tennessee players whiffed. Just incredible!

However, after two consecutive road games we have two draws. Given our injury situation it's disappointing but understandable. We were the better conditioned team tonight. Coack Kirk needs to get the team focused before the game. He does a good job at halftime!
 
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#5,182
#5,182
It was a sloppy game, defensively we weren't good and we didn't play enough soccer, but credit to the team for continuing to play hard and rallying to earn a tie after being down 0-3. Did anybody see the balll go in or cross the line for our 3rd goal? I watched it three times and I don't see a goal, and I'm not sure what the ref saw, but we'll take it.

We need to stop with all the speculative 25-yard -long passes down the field, hoping to connect with one of our forwards. Our centerbacks, Hennessey and others did that about 30 times tonight, and the ball just goes back to the opponent. It's not good soccer. Play soccer, use the midfield, possess the ball.

Needless to say, we need to get some defensive players back.
 
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#5,183
#5,183
My thinking on the third goal is that it appeared the ball hit the inside of the crossbar. If nothing else, I think it’s the universe evening things out because I swore (from my viewpoint in the stands) we had a second goal against Arkansas.

I’m pleased with a tie, but what a disappointing outing.
 
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#5,185
#5,185
I think that last "goal" for us did hit the inside of the crossbar---but I'm fairly sure that would not make it a goal unless it came down inside the line, which it certainly did not appear to do. It would have had to hit the top netting behind the bar to be a goal, I think.

But, yea, to get a point out of that mess of a game with our makeshift defensive lineup was crazy.

In other SEC games, Florida with a very surprising 4-0 win over LSU in Baton Rouge. Shocker of the night--and will help our RPI a bit.

South Carolina scored 2 goals in the last 10 minutes (under 10?) to steal a win against Auburn, 2-1.

An improved Kentucky beat bama, 2-1. Kentucky is our next foe, I think. The key to beating Kentucky is to tightly mark Rhodes (sp), their strong forward, and keep her from scoring. She scored both Kentucky goals last night to become the program's all-time leading goal-scorer.
 
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#5,189
#5,189

Lady Vols Erase Three-Goal Deficit, Draw With Mississippi State​


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The Lady Vols scored three second-half goals to erase a three-point deficit, playing Mississippi State to a 3-3 draw on Friday.

Graduate Sizzy Lawton and junior Jordan Fusco found the net for the Lady Vols (6-2-3, 1-1-2 SEC). A third goal was the result of an MSU own goal off a UT corner kick. Redshirt-freshman Abby Reisz made the start in goal, earning three saves on the night. Redshirt-sophomore Ally Zazzara took over in the second half but did not record a save.

Hannah Johnson turned in a brace for the Bulldogs (6-3-3, 1-2-1 SEC), and Ally Perry rounded out the scoring. Maddy Anderson played the full game in goal for Mississippi State, making two saves.

Tennessee, who was playing without defensive starters Sheridan Michel, Lawson Renie and Ally Brown, struggled to find a rhythm offensively in the first half, with MSU leading the shot count 10-4 at halftime.

MSU's first goal came in the 29th minute when Johnson slotted one into the bottom left of the goal off an assist from Zoe Main.

The Bulldogs struck again in the 43rd minute when Perry capitalized on a miscue between Tennessee players to put a shot in from close range.

Lawton got a chance as the clock wound down, sending a screamer on frame, but Anderson collected the save to send the game into half with UT trailing, 2-0.

Johnson opened the scoring in the second half, sending a perfectly placed header into the side net off a serve from Macey Hodge in the 54th minute.

Lawton put UT on the board in the 73rd minute, getting loose in the left side of the box and sending a screamer into the net.

Fusco pulled UT within one five minutes later, running onto a blocked shot in the box to slide one through the Bulldog defense from 10 yards out.

Tennessee kept the pressure up in their offensive third, forcing a corner kick in the 87th minute that graduate Samantha Agresti got a head on. An MSU defender failed to clear the ball over the crossbar, resulting in an own goal that tied the game at three-all.

UP NEXT: The Lady Vols return home to host Kentucky at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday.
 
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#5,190
#5,190

Lady Vols mount big comeback against Mississippi State​


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The Lady Vols found themselves down three scores all the way down to the 73rd minute until Sizzy Lawton netted her fourth goal of the season. This would be the kickstart to a quick 14-minute comeback as the Lady Vols drew 3-3 against Mississippi State.

Fresh off a draw against No. 7 South Carolina, the Lady Vols (6-2-3, 1-1-2 SEC) have been solid toward applying pressure on the offensive end. The team entered the night second in the nation in corner kicks per game at 8.2, the Lady Vols matched that with two more corner kicks leading to two big goals late in the game.


The first half was one to forget. The Bulldogs put 13 shots on goal in the first half, almost topping the Lady Vols 14 shots all game. The team couldn’t seem to get the ball to the right places with zero assists on the night even with three goals.

Playing chippy and applying pressure can cause some turmoil. The Lady Vols found themselves with 17 fouls committed on the night, including three yellow cards.


Nonetheless, the Lady Vols persisted. The second half was their half, of course after allowing the third goal of the game in the 54th minute. They attacked the ball often, playing aggressive defense in their own zone.

Junior Jordan Fusco picked up a goal in Starkville, her third of the season. Fusco has become a spark plug for this Lady Vols team and her goal in the 83rd minutes against the Bulldogs was no different.

The final goal for the Lady Vols was credited as an own goal from Mississippi State. A corner kick thatSamantha Agresti got a head on was knocked in by a Bulldog.

With the game tied up, the Lady Vols found themselves with a handful of opportunities down the stretch being blown with inefficient passing toward the middle.

Either way, Tennessee was able to leave Starkville with a point after finding themselves in a three goal deficit. They return home to Regal Stadium to take on Kentucky on Thursday.
 
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#5,197
#5,197
Two days ago I saw we are ranked 11th in RPI. That is amazingly--surprisingly--good, given that I don't think we're a particularly good team, partly because of injuries, for sure, but also partly because our soccer isn't terribly good at times. There are no more than 1 or 2 teams that are ahead of us in the RPI rankings that we could beat---Alabama, certainly, and if our two starting CBs were playing we /might/ get a result on a good day against Memphis or Texas Tech, which seems to have a very good team this year, having beaten Texas and SMU. (The Memphis coach is a coach we could have gone after when Pensky left. That's a good program that plays good soccer every year, and it is obvious that's a very well coached team.) Alabama doesn't seem especially good this year (1-2-1 in the SEC at the moment)--certainly, it's not as good as last year's team--but one or two good results can bouy an RPI all year, and for bama those results have been a win over Memphis and a tie with mighty UNC. (I'm quite sure bama could not duplicate that result if they played UNC now.)

Certainly, our RPI has been helped by the fact that Indiana is 9-1-3 and has wins over Louisville of the ACC and an always good Rutgers of the Big10 (it will always been the Big 10 to me). They've also beaten a solid Northwestern and tied Virginia Tech of the ACC. The Hoosiers have got a good coach as well. They just lost to Ohio State and have got some tough matches coming up against Michigan, Michigan State and the best team in the Big10--Penn State. The Michigan and Michigan State matches are in Bloomington, and if Indiana can get results in those games it will be good for us.

Likewise, Cal, which didn't look very good against us, has a pretty good record right now and has gotten a couple of good results--most notably tying an always good Santa Clara. The Golden Bears are 2-0-1 in the soon-to-disappear, apparently, Pac10--but have a bunch of very tough matches coming up against the top teams in the conference--including a 3-game stretch to conclude the season against UCLA, Southern Cal and Stanford. Brutal. They've also got to play Washington State, another good team. To get even 1 tie out of those four matches might be the best Cal can expect. We'll see.

All we can do is keep getting results. We really need a win against a scrappy, hard-working Kentucky team that is stingy defensively and hasn't lost a game. The wildcats had a very easy non-conference schedule and have 4 ties. We need to put the clamps on their scorer, Rhodes, and get the victory.
 
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#5,199
#5,199
Just to reinforce the point that there can be a big difference between a team's RPI and how good it might really be, while bama has an RPI of 9 and we have an RPI of 11, I believe, Massey has bama ranked as the 31st best team in America and the Vols at #33. I think those rankings are a bit low--even though I think Massey is a pretty solid computer ranking---but it's also true that the RPIs for us and bama suggest that we're better than we actually are. All we can do, of course, is start racking up some wins.
 
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