Tennessee soccer remained in its winning ways during a two-game road trip to California this week.
The Lady Vols recorded a pair of shutouts and have yet to allow a goal through four matches. Tennessee took a 1-0 win over No. 4 UCLA on Wednesday, and matched it with a 3-0 win over Loyola Marymount on Saturday. Now, they’ll return home with a week off before returning to the pitch.
Tennessee soccer defeats No. 4 UCLA: How it happened
In a battle against No. 4 UCLA, Tennessee soccer came out on top, winning the game 1-0 in the teams’ fourth-ever matchup. This marked the Lady Vols’ third win of the season, making the recently promoted No. 6 undefeated thus far. The strong start to the season also shows improvement from last year, as there is a nine-goal improvement by the third game.
The single goal for the Lady Vols came from Shae O’Rourke in the 25th minute, assisted by Sydney Miller and Ally Brown. O’Rourke’s goal made it her fourth of the season after scoring in each game so far.
New to Tennessee soccer, O’Rourke was just named SEC Offensive Player of the Week as of Aug. 18. The redshirt junior recently transferred to Tennessee after spending a season at Texas A&M, where she didn’t get the chance for playing time due to an injury in spring training.
Sophomore Cayden Norris also entered the game with honors, being named SEC Defensive Player of the Week before the match. Norris finished the match with five saves, totaling 10 so far this season and making this the third clean sheet in a row.
“Well you can see it last game, we really had our defense on lock and they showed it. They showed out,” O’Rourke said on the SEC Network set. “We’re going to continue to do that because that’s going to win you games.”
Tennessee soccer rolls past Loyola Marymount: How it happened
Tennessee soccer defeated Loyola Marymount on Saturday night, winning 3-0 in Los Angeles. The No. 5 Lady Vols (4-0) haven’t given up a goal this season, starting the season with a plus-15 goal differential.
The opening goal came in the 18th minute from junior forward O’Rourke. She capitalized on a penalty kick, connecting with the bottom left side of the frame to give Tennessee a 1-0 lead.
The rest of the first half was quiet, with both teams coming up scoreless for the next 27 minutes.
Tennessee netted another score in the 61st minute. The Lady Vols added to the lead by way of a throw-in that found its way past the goalkeeper, making it a 2-0 game.
The last action of the night came in the 88th minute. Up 2-0 with two minutes remaining, redshirt junior Luciana Latino found redshirt senior Jenna Stayart for the finishing touch to end the game with a 3-0 victory.
The Lady Vols had an impressive night on the stat sheet, taking 19 shots, eight of which were on target. Tennessee’s defense stifled LMU, holding the Lions to eight shots and only one on target.
The Lady Vols will continue their road trip next week, but this time they’ll be on the East Coast. They’ll face Western Carolina for the first time since 2009, when Tennessee won 2-1. The Lady Vols are 3-0 against the Catamounts, scoring eight goals to WCU’s two.
