The senior class that has paved its way into the record books at every turn was sent out in style Friday night – with a 2-0 win over Georgia on “Senior Night.”
The victory earns Tennessee (13-3-2, 10-1 SEC) its second consecutive SEC regular season championship and the top seed in this weekend’s SEC tournament in Auburn, Ala.
“It felt great to come out and win the championship on our senior night,” Tennessee midfielder Kayla Lockaby said. “We didn’t want to shoot too high, but we wanted to do this for our seniors and for everyone on the team.”
The Lady Vols will begin their defense of their two consecutive SEC tournament crowns with a 6 p.m. contest against Kentucky on Thursday.
But first, Tennessee had some business to take care of. In order to finish ahead of Auburn, who finished its SEC season Friday night with a 3-1 win over Alabama, the Lady Vols needed a win over Georgia or an Auburn loss on Friday.
UT, charged with emotional energy after honoring the seven seniors before the game, decided to take care of business itself – by simply winning its own game.
The first half was characteristic of the Lady Vols’ offensive drought of late. The team had chances to score, but was stymied by Bulldog senior goalkeeper Ashley Lindley.
With three seconds remaining in the first half, however, a senior connection took control of the game.
A UGA foul against sophomore midfielder Ali Christoph set up a free kick with just under 20 seconds in the half. Senior midfielder Sue Flamini took the kick and launched the ball towards a heavily-crowded net, where it was headed in towards the goal by senior defender Keeley Dowling.
Dowling managed to use her head to place the ball at Lockaby’s feet, where she eluded the Georgia defense and sent the ball into the net to give Tennessee a 1-0 halftime lead.
“I think that the goal says it all about tonight,” UT coach Angela Kelly said. “The winning goal went from Sue to Keeley to Kayla. It was all about the seniors knowing what they needed to do to win.”
The initial burst of energy after the goal carried through the intermission. At the 46:58 mark in the second half, Tennessee earned its second goal of the night when freshman midfielder Hayley Prendergast turned an assist from senior forward Lyndsey Patterson into a 2-0 lead for Tennessee.
“Anytime you get scored on in the last few minutes of the first half or the first few minutes of the second half, it really takes the wind out of your sails,” Kelly said.
The 2-0 margin marked the final score, despite a physical second half that saw three yellow cards between the two teams. A yellow card against UGA defender Ali Williams that knocked Lockaby to the ground for several minutes and had her limping off the field sent a scare into the Lady Vols.
But for Lockaby, just winning was well worth the pain.
“We didn’t want anyone to walk off the field tonight knowing that we could have done any better,” Lockaby said.
For Kelly, though, the win brought mixed emotions.
“This was an emotionally-charged team tonight,” Kelly said. “It was a great performance by our seniors. I am very proud to know them. They have made my job so enjoyable.
“It was a bittersweet day, because even though we won, I know that my days of having the opportunity to coach these girls are numbered now.”
