Four seniors left mark on Lady Vols' success

It was Senior Day for the Tennessee women's soccer team at Regal Stadium Sunday afternoon, but all the action was highlighted by a crop of younger Lady Vols as they blanked Auburn 3-0.

After festivities, flowers and family for the four seniors on 12th-ranked Tennessee's roster - forwards Emily Redberg and Hayley Prendergast, and defenders Erica Griffin and Jordan Falcusan - the squad put on a clinic, shutting down the SEC West-leading Tigers (9-7-1, 5-5-0) en route to the team's sixth-straight victory.

"We're pleased with the result, and we're going to take it and run," coach Angela Kelly said. "(Momentum) is huge... We're peaking when we're supposed to, and we're getting a lot more dynamic when we need to."

The scoring began when junior Kylee Rossi found the back of the net during the 39th minute. She was set up by freshmen Tanya Emerson and Julie Edwards and scored from six yards out with a shot to the lower left corner of the net.

Even though the one goal would be enough with junior keeper Jaimel Johnson posting her eighth solo shutout of the season, a margin for error was provided in the second half by junior Alissa VonderHaar, who scored during the 56th minute in similar fashion to Rossi's goal.

Rossi provided the final score three minutes later when she fired a shot to the upper right corner of the Auburn net for an unassisted goal from 12 yards out. Rossi's two goals gave her 10 this season and a team-high 25 points.

Despite having some good opportunities of her own, Redberg - second on the team with 18 points - could not pad her stats. Although she has moved up this season to fifth in career points and goals with 67 and 26 respectively, Redberg said the win exemplified the team attitude that dominates the Lady Vols' soccer community.

"The personal records are great, but all the things I remember are my teammates," Redberg said. "They're the people that helped me get there. The records are great, but all I remember are the championships and things we've done as a team."

Griffin and Falcusan, two familiar faces on the Tennessee back line during their time in Knoxville, will be missed. Griffin, a Memphis native, started all but one of her 87 career games as a Lady Vol, while Falcusan, who transferred from Texas A&M two years ago, has started in each of her 40 games.

As a unit, the four seniors helped the Lady Vols post a 27-3-6 record at home over the last four years, and Kelly said that was a stat that really jumped out at her.

"Three losses at home in four years - I didn't realize that," Kelly said. "That's a huge winning percentage at home."

The Lady Vols will play at Georgia on Friday to conclude the regular season. A win would solidify Tennessee as the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament which begins the following Wednesday in Orange Beach, Ala.

Although she said goodbye to the fans, Redberg was quick to point out that her career still has some time left.

"My career's not finished yet, we still have a lot more games to go," Redberg said. "We have many more better things still yet to come."