Tennessee soccer closed out its regular season slate on Sunday afternoon with a 1-0 victory over Alabama at Regal Soccer Stadium. Despite its struggles in the first half continuing, Tennessee returned to its winning ways after a recent three-game skid.
The Lady Vols extended their scoreless first-half streak to four, but maintained control throughout most of the match. The Lady Vols put up nine shots in the first half, three of which were on goal. Sophomore forward Anaiyah Robinson led the effort with two shots in the first half.
“I think we have a lot more chances in this game,” Robinson said. “In practice, we’ve been working on going forward and being more attacking-minded. I think this game we were able to tuck it in, and I think we had a lot more chances in it.”
The win snaps the Lady Vols’ three-game skid, which included draws with Oklahoma and Florida before a loss to Vanderbilt last Sunday. Over that stretch, the Lady Vols recorded 27 first-half shots, including nine on goal, without a score.
“We created nine shots in the first half,” head coach Joe Kirt said. “We’ve been creating chances consistently all year, but certainly in the last four games. You’re going to go through stretches where it’s hard to score. And we’ve been going through that, but today, we broke through that.”
Tennessee’s lone goal came from junior forward Kate Runyon. She found the back of the net in the 55th minute. A soft pass from redshirt freshman forward Devin Davis found Runyon in front of the goal. She fired a shot past the goalkeeper from point-blank range to take the lead for the Lady Vols.
Although the Lady Vols have faced adversity late in the season, they use it as a learning opportunity. After suffering two draws and a loss before Sunday afternoon’s game, it’s taught them lessons that they couldn’t learn otherwise.
“I think I think we learned that we have to continue being us,” Runyon said. “We need to keep going after it, even if we like can’t break the seal and we’re not finding the net. It’s going to come, so just being authentic to who we are and playing the way that we’ve been training since the spring.”
The win capped an undefeated home record for the Lady Vols, who finished the regular season 7-0-1 at Regal Soccer Stadium. It marks their first unbeaten home campaign since 2021, when they finished 10-0-0 at home.
“The fans have shown out every game,” Kirt said. “Our community and our fans support all our sports, and ours is no different. The environment they’ve created here at Regal is such a home-field advantage, and it’s why we haven’t lost here. Credit to our fans, and the environment they create, it’s been tremendous and probably the best in my time here.”
With the win, the Lady Vols are officially locked into the fourth seed in the SEC Tournament. They secured a first-game bye and will take on the winner of the LSU and Auburn game on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 8 p.m. ET.
