Tennessee soccer finished its Thursday night with a tied game in the conference matchup against the Florida Gators, earning the 12th clean sheet of the season at home in Regal Stadium.
Neither team was able to net a goal, ending in a 0-0 draw. It is the Lady Vols’ (11-1-3) second consecutive scoreless tie, while it was Florida’s (6-5-4) fourth tie of the season.
“We talked about our performance; it was really good tonight, and sometimes the result doesn’t reflect the performance,” head coach Joe Kirt said. “And that’s not about a moral victory, but in terms of playing how we want to play for 90 minutes, got back to creating a lot of quality chances.”
The first half started with an aggressive offense from Florida, earning five shots. But, the Lady Vols quickly returned the favor with 12 shots from eight different players, four of them coming from sophomore Skylar Miller.
To start the second half, Tennessee brought back the same energy from the first with its continuous attacking movement. A probable goal came through at the 67th minute after a shot was made, but was ruled ineligible after an offside call.
Heat started to pick up steadily as the second half went on, with the fighting spirit from both teams ramping up to brew a competitive last 45 minutes. In that half, there were a total of nine fouls committed by both teams, one being a yellow card given to Ally Brown.
In the end, neither team was able to put up a goal, leaving the final score tied 0-0. The Lady Vols finished the offense-heavy game with 24 shots, 11 of them on goal. Miller finished with five shots total, with redshirt freshman Devin Davis earning her season high of three. Davis also made her second appearance in the starting lineup this season for the game, and said that she found out about it just the night before.
“I just have to show up every day and work as hard as I can,” Davis said. “But, credit to everyone on the team, we play really well together and we talk about how we stay connected all the time.”
With the team’s cohesion growing throughout the season, the bond between the players becomes more present with each game.
“Our connection off the field is so strong, so I feel like that goes onto the field,” Miller said. “We’re literally sisters and we do everything together.”
With Tennessee already having more wins so far this season than the whole final season total in 2024, its progress has been noticeable.
“I think we’ve just been trying to take one game at a time, not getting too focused on the big goal ahead,” Davis said. “I feel like in the past seasons, we’ve tried so hard to focus on the big goal at the end of the year. But seriously, taking one game at a time, like looking at what’s in front of us, staying where our feet are, is something that we’re super intentional about.”
“And just like enjoying everything together and just enjoying each other, having fun,” Miller added. ”I think last year, like she said, it was just kind of more goal-driven, but now it’s a day-to-day process.”
Even though the team was unable to score, Kirt was satisfied with the Lady Vols’ performance.
“We played the way we wanted to tonight, and unfortunately, we didn’t get the result that we set out to do,” Kirt said.
The Lady Vols head back to the road for their next game against Vanderbilt on Sunday, Oct. 19, for another SEC opponent battle in Nashville.
