LEXINGTON ? The Kentucky men?s soccer team extended its home shutout streak to six games, but could not find the back of the net and settled for a 0-0 draw against Western Michigan on Friday night at the UK Soccer Complex.
The tie keeps the Wildcats home unbeaten streak alive at seven games. Kentucky moved to 3-2-2 on the season while the Broncos now stand at 1-4-1.
The Wildcats? home shutout streak dates back to an Oct. 15, 2004 victory over Bowling Green. Since allowing a goal early in the first half of that contest, UK has held its opponents without a score for 664:11.
While the defense was shutting down Western Michigan, the offense had numerous chances to net the winner. The first scoring opportunity came in the 29th minute when Joey Grigsby (Augusta, Ga./Greenbriar) found himself open in front of the net, but laced a shot high over the goal.
However, the best chance of the game came in the 65th minute when Brandon Stewart (Dallas, Texas/Creekview) headed a cross and past goalkeeper Brent Miller. However, a Bronco defender cleared the ball off the line to keep the game scoreless.
Regulation ended with Kentucky owning a 16-6 advantage on shots en route to a 19-8 advantage, including 9-1 on goal, for the game. The Wildcats added six corners to just two for Western Michigan.
The first overtime featured just one shot by each side, but the second had a flurry of activity. Jess Mitchell (Plano, Texas/Plano) had a tremendous opportunity less than a minute in, but Miller made a great save to preserve the shutout. Just 30 seconds later, Nashir Carabali had the Broncos best chance of the game, but sent his shot high from inside the box.
Kentucky was forced to play a man down for the final six minutes after Bingy Lara (Las Cruces, N.M./Las Cruces) was given a red card.
Despite being down a man, UK controlled the action and had a chance to win it in the108th minute. Riley O?Neill (Campbell River, British Columbia/Tiberline) knocked down a cross right to Michael Strong (San Antonio, Texas/Alamo Heights), who fired just wide of the far post while falling down.
The Wildcats were without the services of head coach Ian Collins, assistant coach Matt Wilkerson and midfielder Alex McDonald for the contest. All three were awarded red cards in UK?s 1-0 overtime loss to No. 28 Michigan on Sunday and required to sit out one game.
Starting midfielder Michael D?Agostino was also out of action after being injured in the Michigan game.
Kentucky returns to action on when it travels to No. 11 Ohio State on Sunday at 2 p.m.
