Nov. 7, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky women’s soccer team (13-7-0, 6-5-0 Southeastern Conference) has been selected for its eighth appearance in the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship, and will host the Washington State Cougars (12-6-3) on Saturday night at the UK Soccer Complex at 7:00 p.m. ET. It will be the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2006.
Tickets for the match are available for purchase by visiting the UK Ticket Office between the hours of 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET or by calling 1.800.928.2287. Ticket prices are $7 for adults, $5 for youth (ages 3-18) and UK students and $3 for seniors. Children ages two years and under are free.
“Obviously, it’s an incredibly exciting moment. Even though we had known for a few weeks that this was the position we had put ourselves in and we started talking about it as a team a couple of weeks ago, to see your name up there means a lot,” UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said. “First of all, and most importantly, thanks to this family right here. These players have worked their tails off and made a decision to come here and do this together. It was a leap of faith to say we were going to do this.”
The Wildcats were a mainstay in the top 25 of the NCAA RPI all season. Earlier this year, Kentucky reached its highest ranking in program history when they hit 10th.
UK has five wins over schools in the field of 64 this season, including wins over SEC regular season champion South Carolina and 14th ranked Tennessee.
Kentucky and Washington State have met just once before. The Cougars defeated the Wildcats 2-0 in Lexington during the 1997 season.
“We had known for a while that we thought we were going to be in with the high RPI and the incredible strength of schedule that we played,” UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said. “The schedule we have played was strong. It was good to get our name off the board early. I am thrilled with what Jon (Lipsitz) and his staff have put together. These girls have come in and worked hard to put us back in the NCAAs which is great.”
It marks the fourth time UK has hosted an NCAA Tournament contest, but the first time since the 1999 season.
