Although Mr. and Mrs. Lukens will not be able to attend parents weekend, they surely could not be more proud. Nicole Lukens, junior soccer standout and captain, has had an outstanding season with the Commodores so far, despite falling to Florida and South Carolina last weekend. 

 

Lukens, who leads the team in goals so far this season with six, was recently named to the Top Drawer’s Soccer National Team of the Week, the second Commodore after Chelsea Stewart to achieve the honor this season. Lukens scored twice in Vanderbilt’s last win, a 3-0 victory over Tennessee-Martin on Sept. 18.

 

Lukens’s role on the team has recently intensified upon entering into conference play last week, and the Commodores look to her for leadership in the upcoming games against Tennessee and Georgia this weekend. 

 

The Commodore team started conference play 0-2 last weekend against nationally ranked South Carolina and Florida.

 

“I think that it added a lot of frustration to us; I think we really struggled. We have given up seven goals and only scored two, and I think that’s difficult to swallow,” said Coach Ronnie Woodard. “It’s very humbling to come back 0-2 on the road. However, I think it’s a good motivating factor to get better. We know that we don’t want to represent ourselves that way, and it’s within our ability to turn this around right now.”

 

Although disappointing, the losses certainly did not cripple the Commodore team. 

 

“There’s a lot of things we could have done better, so we are working on those at practice,” Lukens said. “It’s going pretty well. We started off real strong and now we are just trying to pick it back up.”

 

The Commodores will be looking more than ever to Nicole Lukens to help the team conquer SEC rivals Tennessee and Georgia this weekend.

 

“Nicole is a great goal scorer and I am looking for her to score some goals,” Woodard said. “Not only is she a fantastic leader and a great captain, I am looking for her to put the ball in the back of the net.”

 

She and the Commodores will be put to the test as they take on Tennessee at home at 7 p.m. Friday and Georgia at home at 2 p.m. Sunday. 

 

“Tennessee is an in-state rival, and it can’t get more exciting than that,” Woodard said. “We went to Georgia last year and they beat us and so we really have an opportunity to play two SEC teams at home on parents weekend and we expect to have great fan support.”

 

Lukens certainly knows what is at stake, describing that her job this year is to “be a leader and help the team get to Orange Beach [the SEC tournament].”

 

The Commodores are continuing to work hard to reach that goal and hope to advance it with wins this weekend.