After battling for a grueling 90 minutes, the Tennessee Lady Volunteers soccer team entered overtime against the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks on Friday night with everything pointing towards a Lady Vols victory.
Tennessee had dominated Arkansas in nearly every statistical category during regulation. They took almost twice as many shots as Arkansas, had phenomenal play from their back line and entered overtime having spent the majority of the second half on Arkansas’ side of the field.
But in the end, Arkansas proved that the only stat that matters is the number of goals scored.
During one of Arkansas’ better possessions on Tennessee’s side of the field, Arkansas sophomore midfielder Claire Kelly found enough space to fire a shot that sailed past Tennessee goalkeeper Jamie Simmons into the back of the net, giving the Razorbacks a 1-0 victory in overtime on Friday.
It was Arkansas’ first true win of their season and yet another heartbreak for the Lady Volunteers soccer team.
“I think specifically tonight we created good chances,” Tennessee head coach Brian Pensky said. “I think in terms of a quality opponent, we made their goal keeper make more saves than they have to make, the opposing goalkeepers had to make all season. I thought a couple of times we shot a little too much from distance, the keeper did a good job holding stuff. We outshot them almost two to one tonight.
“I thought we limited their opportunities and I thought we played well enough to win the game.”
The Lady Vols continue to experience overtime woes, as they now have a 0-3-1 record in overtime games this season.
More importantly, the loss dropped their overall record below .500 at 6-7-1 and 1-4-1 in the SEC.
The first half mainly featured play at the midfield as both teams struggled to get quality looks at the goal. Tennessee finished the first half with seven shots, while Arkansas was only able to muster five shots at the goal.
Tennessee came out aggressive at the start of the second half, as they nearly matched the number of shots they took in the first half in the first ten minutes of the second half.
Amy Neal missed a shot in the second minute of the second half, and Emily Morrow got two good looks at the goal later, but failed to score on both.
Tennessee also formed an aggressive attack in the last three minutes of the game, which resulted in two corner-kicks and multiple shots on goal.
Josie Jennings’ shot on goal in the 43rd minute nearly gave the Lady Vols a victory in regulation.
Jennings’ shot was just outside the penalty box and required Arkansas’ goalkeeper to make the best save of the night.
If Arkansas’ goalkeeper had reacted half a second later, the ball would have sailed into the goal and given the Lady Vols their first goal in two games.
While the shot was extremely close to being a goal, it failed to end the Lady Vols’ scoring drought, as they have gone 270 minutes without scoring a goal.
Despite the string of close loses, Tennessee freshman midfielder Carlyn Baldwin maintains the team needs to just focus on continuing to work hard.
“I think tonight we played well,” Baldwin said. “We are just going to keep working hard, keep trying to get better, doing whatever we can on the training ground. I am incredibly proud of how we played tonight. We competed our hearts out. Just got to keep working as hard as we can.”
The Lady Vols will look to get back on track when they host LSU next Friday at 7 p.m.
