Lady Vols Soccer ⚽️ SEC TOURNAMENT 11/3-11/10

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Jenna Stayart scores first goal of season in loss to Auburn​

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When Sammi Woods located Jenna Stayart on a pass, she knew she had to score.

Woods was one of five seniors celebrated before the match during Tennessee soccer’s Senior Day Ceremony. With the special occasion, a tying goal would mean even more to Woods and her teammates.

Stayart used one touch to settle the ball before sending it into the top-right corner, tying the game for Tennessee.


“Sammi fought the whole time in the corner to give me the ball,” Stayart said. “Just for all of our seniors, trying to get back into the game so we could have a chance to get a win for them.”

Despite Stayart’s goal, the Lady Vols didn’t get a win for their seniors. Tennessee lost, 3-2, to No. 14 Auburn, dropping its second straight game and third overall.

Stayart hasn’t scored since a win over Queens in 2022, but the redshirt junior brings more than just goal-scoring talent. Playing a season-high 55 minutes, Stayart had plenty of time to contribute to Tennessee’s performance.

“Her duels, her ability to shield and help us gain possession in the midfield,” Tennessee head coach Joe Kirt said. “She’s been consistent throughout her defending and helping us in the front half defensively. It has been tremendous.”

The Lady Vols fought back following the first two Auburn goals, scoring quickly after each to tie the game. When Sydnie Thibodaux scored in the 80th minute, Tennessee couldn’t find a third goal.

Tennessee showed resilience throughout the match, but it ran out in the moments where it mattered most. When the Lady Vols tried to score with two minutes left, their forwards tried to earn a penalty call from the official but couldn’t following video review.


Auburn outshot the Lady Vols, 11-5, in the game. Tennessee only put two shots on Auburn’s goal, and while both went in, the Lady Vols didn’t generate enough offensively to match Auburn’s three goals.

“We’ve got to defend,” Kirt said. “We can’t give up soft goals, and we did that today.”

At the back, Tennessee struggled. Right after halftime, Olivia Woodson ran right past several Tennessee defenders and cleanly beat goalkeeper Ally Zazzara. Allowing goals like that will ruin any team’s chances to beat a ranked opponent, just as it did for Tennessee.

After a 5-0 loss to Arkansas, Tennessee needed to put together a complete 90-minute performance. It didn’t do that on Sunday, but it certainly got closer. As the season starts to wrap up, there’s less time to improve.

“I think we just got to know that we have to keep fighting for all 90 minutes, stay together and keep moving forward,” Stayart said. “We have a lot more games to keep fighting and show that we can.”

With just four games to go in Tennessee’s regular season, every point is crucial. After missing out on a chance for points at home, the Lady Vols head to Georgia on Friday, trying to move up the SEC table.

After two defeats, Tennessee has even more motivation to close out the season strong as it tries to earn a spot in the SEC and NCAA tournaments. With only one of its four remaining games coming against ranked opposition, the Lady Vols expect to have a successful end to the 2024 regular season.

“It’s a great opportunity in front of us,” Kirt said. “Every game left is an opportunity for us to grab points, and we let two slip by the wayside. They know that, and they’re good enough to get three points in our remaining games, all of them.”
 
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Tennessee soccers honors 2024 seniors​

  • Tyler Edmands, Contributor
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Tennessee soccers goes through Senior Day ahead of matchup with Auburn in Regal Soccer Stadium. Saturday, Oct. 13, 2024.
Reece Woller / Contributor



The Lady Vols fell on Senior Day, losing to the Auburn Tigers, 3-2. After a loss to Arkansas last Thursday, Tennessee is on a two-game skid nearing the end of the season.
Emotions ran high for the Lady Vols (7-3-3, 2-2-2 SEC) as they celebrated their five seniors ahead of the matchup with Auburn (12-1-2, 4-1-2 SEC).
“We were excited to get out here in an SEC game,” Jenna Stayart said. “It was a tough game but we were definitely excited to come play for our seniors.”

Here’s a look at the seniors Tennessee celebrated on Sunday afternoon.
Nolyn Bartholomew
Bartholomew, a Brentwood native, has been a four-year player for the Lady Vols. In her four seasons, she’s contributed two goals on eight shots. The most memorable moment of her career came last season against Florida Atlantic when she netted the game-winner in a 2-0 victory.
Bartholomew has also made the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2022 and 2023.
Sarah Bridenstine
Bridenstine has made the most of her lone season in Knoxville. She’s been a key for the Lady Vols, starting all 13 games this season after transferring from Michigan in the off-season. At Michigan, she received the Lloyd Carr Award, which is given to student-athletes at the University of Michigan who best represent Michigan’s ideals.
Although she’s primarily a defender, she’s logged two assists this year.The second came on Sunday afternoon when she set Reese Mattern up to tie the score at 2-2 against Auburn.
Hayley Howard

Howard played her first three seasons at Louisville but finished it with the Lady Vols. She attended Brentwood and helped lead them to the state championship in high school. This season she logged action in 11 games and tallied four shots.
Jaida Thomas
Thomas is one of the most storied players in Lady Vols history. A native of Fort Worth, she spent her first season with Tennessee in 2019. Although her career was plagued by injuries, she remained resilient. She became the second Lady Vols to score 40 goals in her career, only behind Kylee Rossi for the all-time goal leader.
She opened the 2023 campaign on the SEC Preseason Watchlist and the United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch list. In 2022, she also made the All-SEC First Team. This season, Thomas has appeared in all 13 games, adding a game-winning goal over Missouri and an assist against Lipscomb.
Sammi Woods
Woods, a grad transfer from Michigan, has had the biggest impact of anyone on offense this year. She’s started 12 of the Lady Vols’ 13 games, totaling 10 points this season on four goals and an assist.
Woods made an impact on Sunday afternoon, adding an assist to Jenna Stayart to tie the game 1-1 in the first half. Woods joined Thomas on the SEC Preseason Watchlist before the 2024 season.
Up next
Although Tennessee fell, the Lady Vols are still in the running for the postseason.
“It’s about competitiveness and willingness to win duels,” Tennessee head coach Joe Kirt said. “I think we were better in that today. Our team did a really good job in the competitiveness side of it, especially in the second half.”
Tennessee will hit the road at the end of the week and travel to Athens to play the Bulldogs in a crucial SEC game.
 
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Prior to taking over as head coach, Morgan served as an assistant coach with Terrapins for five seasons (07-11)
And help lead a resurgence that saw the terms earn two trips to the NCAA sweet sixteen 09,11 , the programs first ever # one seed in the NCAA tournament.

Morgan continued Maryland string of successful seasons in his first as the Terrapins head coach in 2012, leading the team to a second place finish in the ACC tournament.
The 2012 senior class also became the first graduating class to have defeated every ACC program during their college careers.
The Terrapins earned their fourth - straight bid to the NCAA tournament in Morgan's first season as a head coach, as # four national seed.
 
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This should be a good watch when it comes out.

SEC Storied: "Kick Start" follows Florida soccer’s rapid rise​

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The Gators' quick ascent to their first national championship will be on full display with the debut of SEC Storied: “Kick Start” on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. ET.

The quick ascent of the Florida women’s soccer program will be on full display with the debut of SEC Storied: “Kick Start” on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. ET. Directed by Erin Leyden, “Kick Start” was created in recognition of Florida claiming the first national championship for the SEC in women’s soccer in just the fourth season of the Gators’ program.
“Making films about women’s sports is always a joy, knowing that you are shining a light on stories that historically have not gotten enough coverage,” said Leyden. “I loved having this opportunity to revisit this formative era in women’s collegiate sports and give a little shine to a team that came together and made something that seemed impossible, possible.”
SEC Storied: “Kick Start” will re-live Florida’s trek to the program’s first national championship in 1998, coming up against women’s soccer juggernaut North Carolina. To build a national championship program from the ground up is no easy task and given the landscape of women’s collegiate soccer in the mid-1990s, Becky Burleigh’s charge was even more difficult.
“I worked on an Abby Wambach documentary about 10 years ago and through that story, knew the Gators had won a national championship in Wambach’s freshman season,” said Leyden. “Until I dove deeper into the story of that ’98 team, I didn’t appreciate just how unlikely the championship was.”
Burleigh was just 26 when she was named as the first head coach of the University of Florida soccer team in advance of the 1995 season. At the start of her tenure, just two programs in the history of NCAA women’s soccer had ever won the national title, which was first contested in 1982. George Mason hoisted the trophy in 1985, but the remaining 14 titles belong to the Tar Heels.
With a diverse team led by gritty veteran players like Erin Baxter, Danielle Fotopoulos, plus freshman phenom Abby Wambach, the Gators homed in on the underdog mentality and raised the 1998 NCAA Championship trophy.
“To me, the story of the ’98 championship team is a testament to what can happen when a bold idea is backed up with great passion, smart planning and a whole lot of heart,” said Leyden. “It is really stunning to realize just how quickly Becky Burleigh was able to establish a winning tradition for Florida soccer.”
Filmmaker Bio
Erin Leyden is an independent documentary producer and director. Leyden previously worked at ESPN, where she was part of the original production team of the Emmy and Peabody-Award winning 30 for 30 series. Past directing credits include This Magic Moment, Tommy, and The 99ers. Her recent projects include supervising producer duties on Apple TV+’s Super League: The War for Football and producing Open Heart, a portrait of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
 
This should be a good watch when it comes out.

SEC Storied: "Kick Start" follows Florida soccer’s rapid rise​

View attachment 687356
The Gators' quick ascent to their first national championship will be on full display with the debut of SEC Storied: “Kick Start” on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. ET.

The quick ascent of the Florida women’s soccer program will be on full display with the debut of SEC Storied: “Kick Start” on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. ET. Directed by Erin Leyden, “Kick Start” was created in recognition of Florida claiming the first national championship for the SEC in women’s soccer in just the fourth season of the Gators’ program.
“Making films about women’s sports is always a joy, knowing that you are shining a light on stories that historically have not gotten enough coverage,” said Leyden. “I loved having this opportunity to revisit this formative era in women’s collegiate sports and give a little shine to a team that came together and made something that seemed impossible, possible.”
SEC Storied: “Kick Start” will re-live Florida’s trek to the program’s first national championship in 1998, coming up against women’s soccer juggernaut North Carolina. To build a national championship program from the ground up is no easy task and given the landscape of women’s collegiate soccer in the mid-1990s, Becky Burleigh’s charge was even more difficult.
“I worked on an Abby Wambach documentary about 10 years ago and through that story, knew the Gators had won a national championship in Wambach’s freshman season,” said Leyden. “Until I dove deeper into the story of that ’98 team, I didn’t appreciate just how unlikely the championship was.”
Burleigh was just 26 when she was named as the first head coach of the University of Florida soccer team in advance of the 1995 season. At the start of her tenure, just two programs in the history of NCAA women’s soccer had ever won the national title, which was first contested in 1982. George Mason hoisted the trophy in 1985, but the remaining 14 titles belong to the Tar Heels.
With a diverse team led by gritty veteran players like Erin Baxter, Danielle Fotopoulos, plus freshman phenom Abby Wambach, the Gators homed in on the underdog mentality and raised the 1998 NCAA Championship trophy.
“To me, the story of the ’98 championship team is a testament to what can happen when a bold idea is backed up with great passion, smart planning and a whole lot of heart,” said Leyden. “It is really stunning to realize just how quickly Becky Burleigh was able to establish a winning tradition for Florida soccer.”
Filmmaker Bio
Erin Leyden is an independent documentary producer and director. Leyden previously worked at ESPN, where she was part of the original production team of the Emmy and Peabody-Award winning 30 for 30 series. Past directing credits include This Magic Moment, Tommy, and The 99ers. Her recent projects include supervising producer duties on Apple TV+’s Super League: The War for Football and producing Open Heart, a portrait of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
 
LVFL Hannah Wilkinson announcing her retirement.
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hwilkin17



It is with some sadness, but with great clarity and relief, to announce my retirement from the beautiful game.

It’s not exactly the way I wanted to go out. I expected to wear the Fern for the final time at the Olympic Games in Paris, hoping to help redeem our disappointing early Women’s World Cup exit last year. Blood, sweat, tears, puke (food poisoning at the qualifiers 👍🏻) and pure grit to really make this a good, final one.
Instead, I found myself on an impromptu French holiday, thankfully with family, and thankfully with many Aperol Spritzes.

In professional sport, there is only so much you can control. An opinion, sometimes without rational explanation, happens.

That opinion doesn’t define me. I did let it for a little bit. That was a dark space. However, with time, I recognized what a fallacy that is. 14 years representing Aotearoa, 3 Olympic Games, 4 World Cups, and playing careers in the US, Sweden, Portugal, Germany and Australia. So many goals with so many celebrations. Medals, trophies, achievements, personal and team. That is what defines me.

Football shaped me into everything that I am, and gave me more opportunity, and more connections, than I could ever dream of. Thank you, football, thank you to coaches who developed me and saw me, and an even bigger thank you to all my support over the years. I gave it everything, and it was an epic ride.

I am so excited for the next stage. The boots are hung up, but the canvases, the walls, are out and ready. I’ve never felt more alive in my creative space, and I’m so amped to see what manifests.

Much love to you all,

Wilky #17

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I’m up here in Boston babysitting my nieces. And yesterday they announced the name of the new NWSL franchise which begins in 2026. And it doesn’t sound like people are happy with the name.
BOS NATION FC
What do y’all think?

 

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