Pensky Earns 150th Career Victory as Vols Top Mercer Sunday Night

Sunday, August 25

Knoxville, TN

6:00 PM

University of Tennessee

2-0-0, 0-0-0

Mercer

1-1-0, 0-0-0

Mercer

Tennessee

Photo by: Amanda Pruitt/Tennessee Athletics

Pensky Earns 150th Career Victory as Vols Top Mercer Sunday Night

August 25, 2019 | Soccer

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee soccer head coach Brian Pensky tallied his 150th win as a head coach Sunday night, as the 10th-ranked Vols defeated Mercer 3-0 at Regal Soccer Stadium. In his 15th season as a head coach, Pensky now owns a 150-96-41 (.594) overall record.

The Vols saw goals from senior forward MA Vignola, freshman midfielder Claudia Dipasupil and freshman forward Alicia Donley on the way to victory. Tennessee's all-time record against current members of the Southern Conference improved to 24-1-0.

Tennessee (2-0) dominantly outshot Mercer (1-1) 23-0 for the match, with a 7-0 edge in corner kicks. It was the first time in 24 seasons of program history that the Vols held an opponent without a single shot or corner. Additionally, UT held possession for 65 percent of the contest.

"I thought we had a pretty good performance today," Pensky said following the win. "The first double weekend is always hard. We saw some fatigue from our players today, but that is expected. We trained pretty hard yesterday, so that may have something to do with it. But our kids need to be tough and they are tough. I was really proud and happy about the no shots, no corner kicks and no goals."

Vignola scored the opening goal for Tennessee for the second match in a row, finding the back of the net in the 21^st minute to put the Vols ahead 1-0. The senior from Cincinnati, Ohio took a service from Sonia Ouchene Salón, skated around a Mercer defender and fired the ball into the back right corner of the netting. UT went into the halftime locker room with a 1-0 advantage.

Dipasupil gave the Vols some insurance in the 77^th minute, striking past the keeper off a rebound from just outside the six-yard box. Donley added a goal for the Vols' freshman class six minutes later, finding open field on the right side before her shot from 10 yards ricocheted off the back post into the back of the net. Tennessee held the 3-0 edge for remainder of the contest.

Tennessee goalkeepers Charli Pogany and Lindsey Romig saw 45 minutes each between the posts as the duo combined for the shutout. It was the first start of Pogany's Tennessee career after joining the Vols last season.

"For us, (we need) to be together and take the next couple days to get rested and recovered in preparation for Rutgers," Pensky said. "I think it will be a great atmosphere. There will be a lot of fans there and it will be fun. It is a beautiful stadium and will be a good challenge for our kids. Similar to our third game last year when we went to Wake Forest and we handled that pretty well. I expect us to do the same."

UP NEXT: Tennessee is set to embark on its first road trip with visits to Rutgers (Aug. 29, 7 p.m.) and Columbia (Sept. 1, 1 p.m.) next week.

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