Lady Vols plan big finish in soccer

Kylee Rossi and Jaimel Johnson have had a season’s worth of soul searching to get to this moment.

This is the finale.

It’s one last chance to salvage what has been a year of hardship and disappointment for the University of Tennessee soccer stars.

“It has gone by so fast,” Rossi said as the Lady Vols prepare to play host to Georgia at 7 tonight in Regal Stadium for their final regular-season home game.

“It’s been a memorable four years and this will be sad, but at the same time we’re thinking about finishing out the season and kicking some butt.”

UT goes into the match with an uncharacteristic 8-9-1 overall record, 5-4-1 in SEC play.

For a program accustomed to Top 20 rankings and NCAA Sweet 16 berths, 2008 has at times been a head-scratching, learning experience.

“None of us coming in here has ever lost this many games, not in high school, not on club teams,” Johnson said. “We’ve never faced this much adversity, but it has helped us grow.

“It helped us be leaders in adversity and not just the good times. We just want to step up and help our team rise to the occasion.”

UT coach Angela Kelly has been as frustrated as anyone.

In her first eight seasons, Kelly turned the Lady Vols into an SEC force, winning four SEC East titles and making seven consecutive NCAA appearances.

She came into 2008 with high hopes and two senior All-Americans — Rossi and Johnson — leading the way.

“We don’t have any excuses,” she said. “We’re not the least bit satisfied by our results this year, but I’m excited about how we’ve played in certain instances.

“Now what I’m looking to do going into postseason is to put all of that together and play like there is no tomorrow. When I say that to the team now, it’s the truth.”

Rossi, the all-time leading scorer at UT with 102 points and 43 goals, obviously hasn’t lost hope.

Despite playing through a nagging hip injury the past three weeks, she hopes the Lady Vols are ready to make a dramatic late-season push.

“As far as this season goes, it has been hard, but that’s just how it goes sometimes,” she said. “It’s sports.

“And it’s not over. We’re going to the Final Four. We are.”

Johnson, considered by Kelly to be the “best goalkeeper in the country,” knows tonight will be memorable on a couple of different fronts.

“It’s definitely going to be some high emotion,” she said. “I have about 30 family members coming in and my brother (Jeremy) who is in the military is coming in from Alaska to see me play for the first time. So it’ll be a really special night.

“I want to win every game, but this being my senior night and possibly being my last game on this field, in front of these fans in this stadium, it will have more meaning.”

The five UT seniors —Rossi, Johnson, Alissa VonderHaar, Leslie Vineyard and Sarah Van Sickle — will be honored prior to the game.

In four years, it’s a group that has a 50-27-9 record, 29-5-2 at home.

“We’ve just been searching to find a rhythm all year,” Kelly said. “But there’s a tremendous amount of talent on this team and obviously we’d love to send the seniors out with a win.”