The Commodores (11-7-1, 5-6 Southeastern Conference) will compete in the SEC Tournament for the first time in three years Wednesday when they take on the second-seeded LSU Tigers (12-4-3, 8-2-1) at noon in Orange Beach, Ala.
Vanderbilt, the No. 7 seed in the eight-team tournament, shut out its last four opponents in a row by a combined score of 7-0 to qualify for the postseason and has gotten very evenly dispersed scoring during the streak.
Sophomore Candace West scored a goal apiece in a 3-0 win over Mississippi State and a 2-0 win over Kentucky, and juniors Molly and Megan Kinsella, sophomore Emily Grant, redshirt Kate Goldin and freshman Margaux Andrews had one goal each during the run.
Also, junior goalkeeper Rachel Bachtel has increased her shutout total for the regular season to nine, 10 if including an exhibition win over Western Kentucky on Aug. 15, during Vanderbilt's recent run.
One of the last teams to knock off the Commodores, however, were the Tigers in a 2-1, come-from-behind overtime victory in Nashville on Oct. 11. LSU went on to claim the SEC West division title.
That was the third of what was four straight losses for Vanderbilt in mid-October that made postseason play look like unlikely, but the Commodores have been a different team in the last two weeks, changing the way they play their defense and capitalizing on scoring opportunities.
Check back tomorrow to see how Vanderbilt did.
