MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee battled Vanderbilt for a solid 90 minutes on Friday evening, but the Commodores pulled out the 2-0 victory amidst a boisterous crowd of 1,092 at the Dean A. Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium Friday evening.

The Blue Raiders (2-2-0) held even with the Commodores (2-1-1) until midway in the first half when Dana Schwartz hit the back of the net off a deflection from teammate Chenya Williams at 19:47.

Middle Tennessee had a pair of close encounters later in the half as Emily Jorgenson made two shots on goal in the span of three minutes.

Early in the second half, VU’s Schwartz once again found another deflection from Williams to secure the Commodores second goal at 51:37.

The Blue Raiders continued to attack, adding four more shots in the second half. Redshirt freshman Katinka Stenberg added at strong shot at the 60-minute mark, before Whitney Jorgenson booted a shot on goal two minutes later.

Paige Goeglein led the Blue Raiders with three shots and logged 90 minutes for Middle Tennessee.

“Tonight, we were very inconsistent in our play,” said MT head coach Aston Rhoden. “At times we had good possessions and good attacks. However, they were few and far between. I am hoping the lesson we learned from this one is that we’ve got to be good over longer periods of time.”

Vanderbilt held the advantage in shots 12-to-9, while edging the Blue Raiders in shots on goal, 6-5.

Goalkeeper Jessica Gilchrist (1-1) picked up three saves, despite surrendering two goals in the loss. Franklin native Kelsey Brouwer saw 11 minutes of action as the keeper for the Blue Raiders.

Vanderbilt’s Alexa Levick picked up her second win this season, logging five saves for the Dores.

Friday’s ‘Pack the House’ match was the third largest attendance in recent memory. The only other matches higher included Southern Miss (1,309) in 2006 and Vanderbilt (1,285) in 2005.

Coach Rhoden felt Friday’s match was a good measuring stick for the program and the contest will help Middle Tennessee as the season progresses.

“We’ve got to face this sometime,” noted Rhoden. “We rather face this now than later when it truly affects whether we get a good seed in the conference tournament or win a berth to the NCAAs. All of the upcoming matches help us prepare for conference play. We need to expose our players to a high level so by the time we reach conference play, we have seen everything.”

The Blue Raiders hit the pitch again Sunday against in-state foe ETSU. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Dean A. Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium. 

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