Vols Roll Through Mountaineers With 7-0 Road Victory

Saturday, February 20

Boone, NC

12:00 PM

University of Tennessee

6-4-1, 4-3-1

App State

5-10-1, 5-7-0

Tennessee

App State

February 20, 2021 | Soccer

Box Score Box Score

BOONE, N.C. — Five Vols marked the scoresheet on a cold Saturday afternoon as the Tennessee soccer team posted a dominant 7-0 shutout win over App State at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex. The result marked UT's highest margin of victory on the road in more than two decades.

Redshirt freshman forward Jaida Thomas led Tennessee (6-4-1, 4-3-1 SEC) with a pair of scores for her second consecutive multi-goal outing. Mackenzie George, Louisa Essuman, Lawson Renie and Abbey Burdette each contributed one goal apiece throughout the contest, in addition to an App State (5-10-1, 4-6 Sun Belt) own goal late in the first half to account for UT's seven tallies on the afternoon.

"For the second-straight weekend, our players have fought through some challenging conditions with cold temperatures and stiff winds," head coach Brian Pensky said after the match. "Today, I think the 'feels like' temperature during warm-ups was in the single digits. We showed some toughness, which was nice to see."

Thomas continued her hot streak with two tallies early in the first half, making it five goals in her last two appearances for the Big Orange. The Irving, Texas, native found the opener in the 14th minute, slotting into the lower right corner from eight yards off a rolling service from junior midfielder Hannah Tillett. Six minutes later, George's cross into the box was batted around before landing at Thomas' feet as she capitalized for the brace—skipping it past the App State keeper from point-blank range.

An All-SEC forward in the fall, George added to Tennessee's first-half advantage with a score off a goalkeeper deflection in the 30th minute. The junior from Lincoln, California, had her initial attempt stopped on the goal line before cleaning it up from close range to make it 3-0, Volunteers.

The match's fourth score came by way of an App State miscue in the 38th minute. George made her way inside the 18-yard box and passed towards Burdette who was converging on the Mountaineer goalkeeper. App State defender Liney Brantley attempted to clear the ball, but ended up stabbing it into the lower left corner of the net. UT took its 4-0 advantage into halftime.

The Vols had a pair of freshman midfielders record their first collegiate goals back-to-back late in the second half, as Essuman and Renie tallied in the 81st and 86th minutes respectively. Essuman's score came on a second effort following Giselle Washington's initial on-target header, when the Ghanaian newcomer booted it into the top shelf from six yards out. Five minutes later, Renie received George's cross from the left wing and buried it into the lower right corner to put the Vols up 6-0 late.

Burdette's efforts on the first-half own goal were rewarded with two minutes to spare in regulation as she tapped one in for the match's seventh tally. The junior from Monrovia, Maryland, found the end of Thomas' pass inside the six and punched it into the lower left corner to cement the final score.

Tennessee's outright dominance on Saturday was evident on the box score, which showed the Vols having a season-high 22 shots and 12 shots on goal against the Mountaineers.

"Jaida, Abbey and Mackenzie [George] continue to show their ability to be dangerous individually, and as a group," Pensky said. "Then in the back half, we did a better job than last week in terms of not giving away chances. Which is how it should be - improving from one week to the next."

Sophomore keeper Lindsey Romig had her second-straight solo shutout in the win, playing all 90 minutes and making three saves on the afternoon. The Midlothian, Virginia, native has lowered her season goals-against average to 1.23 after back-to-back clean sheets to open the spring semester.

ROAD WARRIORS: With Saturday's 7-0 blanking of App State, Tennessee earned its largest road win since an 8-0 shutout at ETSU on October 9, 1998. The seven-goal margin of victory was the highest for UT overall since toppling Belmont at home, 8-0, on September 13, 2015.

FIRE POWER: Combining with last week's 6-0 rout over Gardner-Webb, UT has scored 13 goals in its last two matches. That is the most for UT in a two-game stretch since having 15 against Arkansas State (9-0) and Murray State (6-1) on September 6 and 8, 2002.

UP NEXT: The Vols will return to their home pitch Sunday, February 28 to take on defending Big East Conference champion Xavier. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Regal Soccer Stadium.

For the most up-to-date information on Tennessee soccer, follow @Vol_Soccer on Twitter and Instagram.