CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Despite losing by a 5-0 deficit, Chattanooga head coach J.D. Kzyer saw reason for optimism Friday night as the UTC women's soccer team fell to the 13^th-ranked Lady Vols at the North River Soccer Complex.

“Five-0 is never good,” Kyzer said. “But to play as well as we did was good. It was 3-0 at halftime and they didn't break down our defense to score.”

Tennessee outshot the Lady Mocs 30-2 with 18 shots in the first half and 17 on goal. UTC keeper Allie Preston (Asheville, N.C.) was one of six freshman to take the field for Kyzer in the season opener. She recorded 12 saves in the game and stopped a penalty kick from Devon Swaim.

“We had a freshman in goal who stopped their All-American (Kylee Rossi) one-on-one and got the PK,” Kyzer said. “We're going to be okay.”

It took more than 23 minutes for the Lady Vols to find the goal. Leslie Vineyard took a pass from Mick Imgram at the 23:15 mark after a corner kick placed the ball in front of the net. Rossi scored on an assist from Vineyard just over three minutes later and then topped off the first half scoring with her second goal of the season at 33:11 on a pass from Julie Edwards.

Chattanooga managed a pair of hard won shots from Chelsea Hurst (Flintville, Tenn.) and Macy Johnson (Ooltewah, Tenn.) late in the second period, but failed to find the goal.

Midway through the second period off a corner, UTK's Alissa VonderHaar took a deflection off a Chattanooga defender at the goal and found Anna Fisher who recorded her first goal of the season. With 69:23 gone in the game, Fisher broke away and raced down the field. Preston challenged her and the pass made its way to a sliding Emily Dowd for the final tally of the game.

More than 1,000 fans, with many wearing gold, turned out to watch the first match between the two University of Tennessee schools.

“I think the large turnout was good,” Kyzer said. “Not only for the team, but for the community, the school and soccer as a whole.”

The Lady Mocs return to action Friday, Aug. 29 against High Point at the North River Complex. The game is set to begin at 7 p.m. and admission is free as it is all season.