No. 13 Wildcats bow out of NCAA Tournament.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 14, 1999) — The 13th-ranked Universityof Kentucky women’s soccer team fell 3-2 inovertime to No. 11 Texas A&M in the secondround of the 1999 NCAA Tournament Sundayafternoon at the UK Soccer Complex.
UK (16-3-2), seeking its first NCAA Tournamentvictory, held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before falling tothe Aggies. Sophomore forward Annie Gage had agoal and an assist for the Cats who lost for the firsttime since Sept. 10 when UK lost to Florida 2-1.
The Cats struck first when Gage converted on apenalty kick at the 25:13. A&M defender AmberReynolds was called for a handball directly in frontof Aggie goalkeeper Melanie Wilson and UK wasawarded the PK.
For the next forty minutes, UK held a 1-0advantage before Nicky Thrasher got A&M on theboard at the 65:45 mark. From 35 yards out,Thrasher fired a shot over the outstretched-arms ofUK goalkeeper Jo Fletcher and high into the upperright-hand corner of the net, tying the score at 1-1.
Freshman Christal Mattingly gave UK a 2-1 leadwhen she fired a header in off Gage’s corner kick atthe 78:30 mark. Mattingly’s shot hit just underneaththe crossbar and went straight down but bouncedover the line as a flurry of A&M defenders tried toknock it away.
Texas A&M (17-4-1) tied the game when theAggies were awarded a penalty kick after UKdefender Emily Oetjen was called for a foul insidethe Cats’ box when she tripped Heather Ragsdale. Heather Wiebe, takingthe A&M penalty kick, fired a shot to the left corner of the goal that Fletcherwas unable to get to, tying the game at 2-2.
Thrasher was the hero in overtime for the Aggies when she fired a 20-yardshot high over Fletcher’s hands, advancing A&M into the Sweet Sixteen ofthe NCAA Tournament.
“It’s almost fitting to have that kind of competition and it end in overtime,”UK coach Warren Lipka said. “Both teams could have won it at any point,but once it gets past overtime, the game is up for grabs. My hat’s off toTexas A&M because they fought back twice and to win it in overtime is agreat effort. It is disappointing, but we had a great season and we have a lotto look forward to in the future.”
A&M outshot the Cats nine to six and out-cornered UK five to one. Wilsonrecorded two saves for the Aggies, while Fletcher posted three saves for theCats.
1 2 1OT FTexas A&M 0 2 1 3UK 1 1 0 2Attendance: 737Scoring - Gage, UK (penalty kick), 25:13; Thrasher, A&M (Fendley),65:45; Mattingly, UK (Gage), 78:30; Wiebe, A&M (penalty kick) 83:52;Thrasher, A&M (Davidson), 93:16Shots - A&M: 9; UK: 6Corner Kicks - A&M: 5; UK: 1Goalkeeper Saves - A&M: 2; UK: 3Fouls - A&M: 13; UK: 11
