No. 21 Tennessee defeats No. 24 Ole Miss

No. 21 Tennessee defeated No. 24 Ole Miss 6-4 on Thursday night at Regal Soccer Stadium. After back-to-back road games, the Lady Vols returned for their first home game since tying with Auburn 1-1 in overtime on Sept. 21.

Tennessee (11-1-1, 3-1-1 SEC) started the game out strong with an early goal in the 13th minute by junior Khadija Shaw. Shaw’s goal was her 10th of the season, a team-best. A minute later, redshirt junior Anna Bialczak would quickly extend the Lady Vols lead to 2-0 with her third goal of the season. In the 23rd minute, junior Rylie O’Keefe put away her second goal of the season to extend Tennessee’s lead to 3-0.

Ole Miss (9-3-1, 2-3-0 SEC) never gave up and would get on the scoresheet with Grace Johnson’s goal in the 24th minute, cutting the Tennessee lead to 3-1.

The goals continued in the second half when O’Keefe scored again in the 50th minute to put the Vols up 4-1. Ole Miss would then add two goals in the 52nd minute, and 56th minute to keep the game close at 4-3. With the two goals, Channing Foster and CeCe Kizer have now combined for 22 goals on the season for Ole Miss.

Tennessee extended it’s lead to 5-3 in the 57th minute with Bialczak’s second goal of the night. Junior Danielle Marcano would then score her first goal of the season in the 75th minute to make it 6-3. Marcano’s goal would give the Vols their sixth and final goal of the game. Ole Miss added another goal in the 82nd minute, as Rebels Ella Johnson sent in a long-distance shot.

In this game, Ole Miss gave up six goals which is more than they have given up all season. In turn, Tennessee gave up four goals on the night equaling the amount of goals given up all season.

The Lady Vols continue to impress this season with only one loss to No. 3 South Carolina. Tennessee will head back on the road on Sunday afternoon to face Missouri in Columbia. The game will air at 2 p.m. ET on SECN+.

Edited by Ben McKee

Feature image courtesy of UT Sports