Kentucky Earns Road Point in 2-2 Draw After Second Half Surge
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After Vanderbilt scored two
goals inside the first 11 minutes of the match on Sunday afternoon, the
Kentucky women’s soccer team battled back, scoring twice inside the first 15
minutes of the second half to earn a road point in a 2-2 draw with the
Commodores.
Kentucky started well in the match, but was
caught off a backline error on 11 minutes, and the VU offense pounded and
scored off the turnover through Kacy Scarpa’s first goal of the year. Less than
a minute later in the match, Vandy got a corner kick from the left side of the
attack, and a re-fire from the initial clearance was deflected inside the box
and went the opposite way of Evangeline Soucie to double the VU lead and make
it 2-0.
At halftime, Kentucky was able to make
changes, and they paid off in a big way scoring twice in the first 13 minutes
of the second half to peg back level.
Freshman Marissa Bosco scored the first goal
for Kentucky on 48 minutes as Zoe Swift played a ball wide into space to Tanya
Samarzich, who got end line and then served the ball back across the face of
the goal to Bosco, who hammered home the finish to the keepers’ right. That
goal made it 2-1, Vandy with Kentucky knocking on the door for a second goal.
In the 59th minute, Swift scored her fourth
goal of the season to equalize the match at 2-2. Swift was played a ball from
the left side of the box, after Samarzich turned the corner and played a ball
to the near post, where Swift was able to redirect the ball into the back of
the net off a slide and tie the match.
Kentucky outshot Vanderbilt 10-2 in the second
half of the match and also earned five corner kicks.
There was only one considerable scoring chance
in both overtime periods, with Soucie making an acrobatic save in the dying
seconds of the second overtime diving to her right and up, punching the
goal-bound ball away from the frame and preserving the road point for the
Wildcats.
The Wildcats with the result move to 4-7-3
overall on the 2016 season and are 0-5-2 inside of Southeastern Conference play
on two points in the league table. Kentucky is next back in action on Friday at
7:30 p.m. ET from the Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington. The match will be shown
live on the SEC Network+, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app with Neil Price (pxp) and
Stuart Pope (color) calling the action.
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.
