No. 9 Soccer Shuts Out Fifth Straight Opponent; Defeats Vanderbilt 3-0
FAYETTEVILLE – The ninth-ranked Razorbacks (10-2-1, 5-1-0 SEC) shut out Vanderbilt (8-2-3, 2-2-2 SEC), 3-0, in front of 2,263 fans, the seventh largest crowd in Razorback Field history.
Sunday’s victory marked Arkansas’ fifth straight shutout, all of which have come in SEC play. It’s the most consecutive league shutouts for the Hogs since 2017.
First Half
For the second straight match, the Hogs notched a goal in the first 10 minutes, but one wasn’t all today.
Forward Anna Podojil got things going just one minute and four seconds in and scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season. Freshman Makenzie Malham sent a short pass into the box where junior Ava Tankersley relayed it up to Podojil just beyond the penalty spot. Podojil struck the ball after one hop and into the lower right corner of the net.
The goal, her 43rd career score, puts her one away from tying the program’s all-time record set by Julie Williford in 2003.
A minute and a half later, Tankersley got one of her own to give Arkansas an early 2-0 lead. Malham was again involved in the action and sent a ball from the near side to the same area where Podojil scored. Tankersley, with a Vanderbilt defender in tow, managed to meet the ball after one hop and redirect it past Commodore keeper Kate Devine and into the lower left corner of the net.
“We work on that a lot, just whipping the ball in and having runners in the box,” Tankersley said. “I was able to beat my runner to the front post and get my ball in the middle.”
Things settled down after the first 10 minutes and Arkansas finished the half ahead in shots, 8-3.
Second Half
The Razorbacks again got off to an early start and scored their third and final goal of the match four minutes into the second half. Junior midfielder Ellie Podojil took a corner from the near side, then came down inside the six-yard box and met the head of midfielder Bea Franklin amongst a scrum of players. Franklin changed the course of the ball and knocked it into the middle-left part of the net.
All four of Franklin’s goals at Arkansas have come via the header.
“We just said ‘Listen, we’re not going to talk about finishing, we’re just going to talk about keep doing the right things’,” Arkansas coach Colby Hale said. “There were two great finishes and two great goals then we got the third on the set, so then we finished it up.”
Goalkeeper Grace Barbara made two saves and notched her fifth straight shutout and eighth of the season.
The Hogs finished with 13 shots, six on target, on the afternoon.
Next Up
The Hogs will resume play one week from today and travel to Tuscaloosa to face No. 4 Alabama (13-1-1, 7-0-0 SEC). First kick is set for 11 a.m. CT and the match will be televised on SEC Network.
For more information on Arkansas Soccer, follow @RazorbackSoccer on Twitter.
