Miranda Jimenez Scores First Goal as Kentucky Wildcat
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshman sensation Miranda Jimenez scored her first-career NCAA goal on Friday night in front of a brave, emotional crowd of over 1,000 at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex in the remains of Hurricane Harvey’s precipitation.
The Kentucky sports turf crew worked tirelessly all day long to be able to take more than two inches of rain off the pitch and make it playable for Friday night’s match. The crew was out walking the field all afternoon and was using the sopper machines for over two hours in order to take standing water off the field and get it ready for action.
Jimenez brought the crowd to its feet in the 77th minute with her first-career goal on a perfectly executed corner kick late in the second half. The corner was served in from the left side by Tanya Samarzich, who got the ball through the penalty area and then Jimenez was there waiting on the back post to touch it perfectly past goalkeeper Gabrielle Kouzelos. The goal wasn’t enough, as Kentucky fell to Louisville, 3-1.
Kentucky will take to the pitch on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET when the Wildcats will face top-10 nationally ranked Florida State in Tallahassee. The match will have live stats available via the Florida State website – but there will be no television or streaming of the match on any outlets.
“I first off want to thank our incredible grounds crew for their tireless efforts all day to get the pitch playable,” UK head coach Ian Carry said. “Also, thanks to the Big Blue Nation who braved the weather and created a home-field advantage for us tonight. We are obviously disappointed with tonight’s result given that we gave up two set-piece goals – but we will take the positives moving forward and start preparing for Florida State on Sunday.”
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s soccer team, follow @UKWomensSoccer on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
