Nov. 2, 2010
— UPDATE AS OF 1:47 p.m. ET: The game has been postponed until Thursday, Nov. 4. Kickoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET. —
Cat Scratches: Women’s soccer’s remarkable offensive, team turnaround | Video of Jon Lipsitz
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – The seventh-seeded UK women’s soccer team opens the 2010 SEC Soccer Tournament on Wednesday at the Orange Beach Soccer Complex taking on the second-seeded and 13th-ranked (SoccerTimes) South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks (14-4-2, 8-2-1) will be no small task for UK (10-7-2, 4-5-2), having defeated the Cats 5-1 in Lexington earlier this season; however it’s the match that the Cats are eagerly anticipating.
“We have a tough test, as we will be playing the No. 2 seed in the tournament (South Carolina),” said UK head coach Jon Lipsitz. “It’s obviously a match that all of our players wanted. I am very excited by their attitude. They have a nationally ranked opponent that they want to play. I think everyone that was there on Friday night [vs. Vanderbilt] saw the attitude that we have created in this team over time. I am very proud of their work. I think it has been a great season, a great step in the development of this program.”
Kentucky enters the tournament winners of their last two matches. The team has seen an offensive explosion at the right time, outscoring its opponent 11-2 (Mississippi State 5-1; Vanderbilt 6-1) in those two matches. The Wildcats have attempted 74 shots in their last matches.
“One of the benchmarks of this year is that last year, we finished 11th in the SEC,” Lipsitz said. “I think that with a 6-1 win over a team that was very difficult to score on in the regular season (Vanderbilt) that you could see a team that was trying to make a statement. It was nice to see it come together. In football terms, we play with four wide-outs and a no huddle. We play like gun slingers out there. That’s our attitude. We throw everybody into the attack and take every risk possible. We want the game to be fun and exciting. We want the crowd to love what they see. We want to try fancy moves, and we have waited for it all year for the attack to come together, and finally we have it put together.”
Kentucky is making its first appearance in the league’s postseason dance since 2007, an absence of two years after having gone to the tournament 14 straight seasons.
The Wildcats are 12-12-1 all-time in the tournament and have two championships under their belts in 1995 and 2006. UK and South Carolina have never met in the postseason.
Kickoff is set for noon CT at the Orange Beach Soccer Complex. Live stats will be available at UKathletics.com.
