At the beginning of the 2004 soccer season, the Lady Vols were picked by a vote of SEC coaches to repeat as league champions.
After completing the regular season with a 2-0 win over Georgia last Friday, that goal has now been met. Tennessee (13-3-2, 10-1-0 SEC) heads into the postseason with a new set of goals emerging.
“I’m very happy with the way this team has been playing,” UT coach Angela Kelly said.
Today, with a 6 p.m. matchup against 8th-seed Kentucky, the top-seeded Lady Vols begin defense of their SEC tournament title in Auburn, Ala. Tennessee has won consecutive SEC championships, both with title-game wins over Florida.
UT enters the SEC tournament with a 10-1 record in SEC competition with their only loss to second-seeded tournament host Auburn. A rematch with the Tigers could occur if both teams make it to Sunday’s championship game.
It took late-game heroics for Tennessee in its first contest against Kentucky this season. On Oct. 17, the Lady Vols picked up a 1-0 victory over the Wildcats when senior All-American Keeley Dowling kicked in the game-winner with four seconds remaining in the action.
“We’ve played through very emotional games and games where we looked very flat and lacked emotion,” Kelly said.
Kentucky (6-11-1) is led by Elisabeth Jones, who has three goals and six assists on the season. Wildcat goalkeeper Liz Butler holds a 1.53 goals-against average in 14 games as a starter.
The Lady Vols head into the postseason with the same goals in mind as before.
“We want to go out and leave everything we have on the field,” senior midfielder Kayla Lockaby said.
“I want to know when we finish that we couldn’t have done any better for each other.”
That mindset has led to a balanced UT offense over the course of the season. Lockaby leads the team with nine goals on the season.
But nine Tennessee players have picked up at least one goal in the 2004 season. In the Lady Vols’ regular season finale against UGA, freshman Hayley Prendergast notched her first career goal.
On defense, junior goalkeeper Vanessa Phillips-Bosshart has accumulated a .79 GAA for the season while picking up six shutouts.
A win over Kentucky would result in a semi-final contest against either Vanderbilt (6-6-5) or Mississippi State (9-8-3). A victory there would send UT into the finals for a potential rematch with either Florida or Auburn.
Regardless of the opponent, Tennessee just wants to prove that it belongs among the elite.
“We want to finish our season the way we’ve been playing throughout our careers,” senior Lyndsey Patterson said. “We proved we can play with anyone, so we want to keep showing that.”
Lady Vols named All-SEC: Tennessee players make up more than a third of those named to the All-SEC first team, with four Lady Vols on the squad. Keeley Dowling, Kayla Lockaby, Ali Christoph and Lyndsey Patterson are first-team selections, while goalkeeper Vanessa Phillips-Bosshart made the second team.
Angela Kelly was named SEC Coach of the Year for the second straight time, and Dowling was SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Genna Gorman was SEC Co-Freshman of the Year.
