Tennessee soccer secured their fourth victory of the season with a 2-0 win over the Florida Atlantic Owls in a non-conference matchup in Knoxville. FAU came into the game searching for their first win, but the Lady Vols set the tone early with a fast start.
Tennessee (4-1-1) faced a challenge as well, still physically recovering from a hard-fought draw with the No. 9 UCLA Bruins.
Tennessee used this game to hammer home one of their core strategies to defeat FAU (0-4-2): “first five, last five.”
Earlier this season, junior Mac Midgley highlighted this concept of pacing emphasis on the opening and closing stages of the game.
“We do a big five and last five,” Midgley said. “We just come off as hard as we can, and the last five is the same thing.”
Tennessee didn’t waste any time with this strategy, with Midgley finding the back of the net from beyond the box three minutes into the game.
Reese Mattern passed to Kate Runyon for the extra touch, which fell at Midgley’s feet.
She capitalized on the opportunity, putting one in from outside the box for the Lady Vols’ second first half goal of the season.
“It popped out,” Midgley said. “I was the lucky one on that end of it.”
This early goal helped the Lady Vols take control of the game and would turn out to be the winning margin.
Lady Vols’ Sammi Woods emphasized that Tennessee’s mindset remains unchanged.
“It’s something we always emphasize, just how we want to come out,” Woods said. “I’d say we’ve gotten a lot better at it over time, but it’s harder to come out in a Sunday game compared to a Thursday night under the lights. Having that mentality on automatically is what we’re trying to push as the season gets deeper and the lights get heavier.”
Tennessee hoped to continue the momentum, but they faded as the half wound down.
The Lady Vols matched the Owls in the first half, only tallying three shots, with one being on goal for both teams. Although the Lady Vols let off the gas, they headed into halftime with a 1-0 advantage.
“It’s hard to turn around on Sunday afternoon in the heat and keep up the speed of play,” Tennessee head coach Joe Kirt said. “I don’t think we did a great job of it, but we’re capable of it.”
Tennessee came out more focused in the second half, racking up 13 shots, four of which were on target. Woods also added her second goal of the 2024 campaign in the 68th minute to close the game for the Lady Vols.
“It’s within them to execute for 90 minutes,” Kirt said. “We came on and did it for about 50 minutes. We took about 40 minutes off in the first half, but we responded well in the second half.”
This win pushes the Lady Vols to a 4-1-1 record, with their next game being No. 7 Memphis at home Thursday. Tennessee will need to ride the momentum to tie or even win against another nationally-ranked team.
