Maddie Elwell finishes strong
Wiss grad Elwell finishes strong, helps Vanderbilt win SEC title
The most difficult season of Maddie Elwell’s soccer career ended in a moment of elation.
For a week, things felt as close to normal as they had in months for Elwell and the rest of her Vanderbilt women’s soccer teammates and the Commodores thrived in the setting. Like her team, the Wissahickon graduate and current senior at Vanderbilt upped her play in the SEC tournament.
Firing on all cylinders, Elwell played a key role in helping the Commodores win their first league tournament since 1994 last week in Orange Beach, Alabama.
“It got to the point where we had already been there the whole week and we were not going home without a trophy after everything we’d done,” Elwell said. “The support within the team on and off the field was something that was a surreal experience because that energy hadn’t been there in the regular season given all the rules and regulations; it was hard to be so positive.”
It was a history-making week for Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament, with the team scoring a record 14 goals in four matches while becoming just the second program to win four times on its way to a championship. Elwell entered the tournament with just
one assist on the season, but scored a goal in each of the first two rounds, then had a corner kick that led to a goal in the semifinals.
“I couldn’t describe the feeling after the championship game,” Elwell said. “It was like taking all that we’d been through and having it as one emotion, it was crazy.”
After a rough start to the fall for Elwell and her team as a whole, the week away from campus was the perfect remedy. Elwell came down with COVID-19 in July and even after recovering, the All-SEC winger still felt the after-effects for another few weeks, saying she couldn’t finish a conditioning drill without getting sick.
With all but a small handful of leagues opting to postpone their seasons to the spring, the SEC chose a league-only schedule that caused an extended preseason. All the team’s players had to live on campus and coupled with strict university regulations, it had an adverse effect with a 1-3 start.
“I would say it was very difficult but all of it paid off,” Elwell said. “At the end of the season, we had a healthy team and a healthy staff. Everyone was there for each other but it did take us a long time. I knew it would probably take a little bit to get our footing but we were able to do that by the end of the season.”
Vandy finished 3-1 for a 4-4 overall record and the No. 7 seed in the SEC tournament. After a breakout junior year where she posted 10 assists and a goal, Elwell only had one assist in the regular season.
Between opposing teams paying her more attention on the left wing and her team trying to adjust to a constant rotation of players in and out of the lineup due to numerous reasons, Elwell’s opportunities were limited.
“A lot of what came with that was adapting and being less predictable,” Elwell said. “I was able to use the time to work on different things, like my non-dominant foot or coming in off the right side so it wasn’t the same things every time.”
W hile the numbers weren’t there, Elwell didn’t let it detract from her effort on the field. As a result, the winger was honored as a Second Team All-SEC selection for the second straight year prior to the tournament.
“The assists and goals are something everyone pays attention to, but you can always be a competitor when you’re on the field,” Elwell said. “It’s not always about the outcomes or the stats but the difference you make with your teammates. While I was thinking about that, I was just focused on competing and doing the best I can.”
Vanderbilt head coach Darren Ambrose had Elwell on his radar before he even got to Nashville when he coached at Penn. Ambrose gave Elwell a key piece of advice between her freshman and sophomore seasons to just focus on the little things that helped the winger translate what made her a standout at Wissahickon and her YMS club to the college level.
The SEC tournament also marked three straight falls with a title for the program. In 2018, the Commodores won the SEC regular season title and last year, were the East division champions before winning the league tournament this fall.
Asked if she ever envisioned being a two-time all-league player, Elwell offered a frank answer but also noted how her success was tied to her team’s success.
“I can very confidently say no, I did not,” Elwell said. “But I see it as the growth our team has made as well as what I’ve done myself. What’s great about it, the personal accolades are great but for our team, that’s a third year now with a ring so that’s way bigger to me.”
While their restrictions on campus were rigid, the Commodores didn’t have any games postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19. When they got to Orange Beach for the SEC tournament, they finally had a little more freedom and it showed in their play.
Elwell said the team mixed up its rooming assignments for the tournament and the players had some leeway to gather and spend time together as a group outside of training sessions. Of course, the locale didn’t hurt either.
“We were on the beach, which was so nice, so we could be out there and around each other,” Elwell said. “We roomed with four or three and they were different than who we had roomed with all semester so it was awesome to be around people who aren’t in your class or may be freshmen you haven’t really gotten to know. We were able to do that in bigger groups than we were used to, it was something new and brought a lot of positivity.”
Vanderbilt ran a bit of a gauntlet to claim the title, winning matches against No. 10 Mississippi State (40), No. 2 Tennessee (4-2), No. 3 Texas A&M (3-1) and No. 1 Arkansas (3-1) on its way to hoisting a trophy.
Elwell notched her first goal against Mississippi State on a brilliant solo run that saw her f lash some technical footwork before a close-range finish. She scored the opening goal against the archrival Volunteers in the second round, beating a defender to a loose ball, settling it and lashing a shot off her left foot.
“It was all the momentum change in the team,” Elwell said. “We had goals scored from so many people, it wasn’t just the names you’d normally expect to see. It really settled in that we were playing for another game with each other. None of us were exactly sprinting home because we’re going to be here for two months.”
Now back home in Ambler, Elwell said the accomplishment has finally sunk in. During the tournament, with the games so close together, she said it was hard to focus on anything but the next game up and even the final Sunday was more of an emotional release than an appreciation for the title.
The victory was a hardearned reward for a trying fall, but also a golden ticket in the spring. Vanderbilt earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, scheduled in the spring and will use its allotment of games in the second semester to prepare instead of trying to hunt down an atlarge bid.
Play ing a year-long schedule is yet another new challenge but Elwell was confident her team could carry its strong fall finish into their second half.
“This tournament was a huge confidence boost, we know after beating some capable opponents that whole week that we can do it,” Elwell said. “We’re starting back in February, so there’s not as much stress but a lot more excitement and motivation. We’re looking to pick up where we left off.”