Lady Vols shoot ahead

In front of 1,355 orange-clad fans, the Tennessee soccer team came away with a win and opened regular season play in the new Regal Stadium in grand style.

Facing No. 7 Penn State in the second match of the eighth annual Lady Vol Classic, the 24th-ranked Lady Vols were fired up and looked strong as they went on to win 2-1.

The Lady Vols outshot Penn State 12 to 7 in the first half, but the Nittany Lions took the first lead when a shot from the right corner by freshman Meghan Monroig trickled into the goal in the 40th minute.

The second half began with the same tempo as the first, and Tennessee continued to keep the ball in Penn State territory for a good portion of the second half.

The game became tied when a corner kick from sophomore Mick Imgram found freshman Tanya Emerson. Emerson had time to settle the ball down and made the score 1-1 just 13 minutes into the second half for her first career goal.

Eleven minutes later, Imgram, who was second on the team in scoring in 2006, tacked on two more points by netting a goal of her own off a free kick from 35 yards out.

Good defense and a stingy offense kept the lead safe as Tennessee allowed Penn State only four second-half shots.

UT outshot the Lions 21-11 for the match.

The Lady Vols (1-1) will face Minnesota (0-1) Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Golden Gophers fell to Central Florida 2-1 in the early game Friday.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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