Kentucky Earns Sixth-Straight Win Over Louisville on Friday Night
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – The University of
Kentucky women’s soccer team earned its sixth win in a row over the Louisville
Cardinals on Friday night, scoring the last three goals of the match after an
opening goal from the Cards to secure a 3-1 road win at Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn
Stadium in Louisville.
With the win, UK collects its first win of the
season and now moves to 1-2-1 on the year. Louisville suffered its first loss
of the season, and is now 3-1-1. Kentucky returns to the pitch on Sunday afternoon
at 4 p.m. ET against High Point. The match will be shown live from the Bell
Soccer Complex in Lexington on the SEC Network+.
“I thought it was a great display of
heart and guts by the players tonight,” UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said.
“Louisville came out and punched us in the mouth by scoring first and
dominating the run of play early in the match and that’s a tremendous credit to
Karen (Ferguson-Dayes) and her staff, who we have the upmost respect for.”
Louisville scored its first goal against Kentucky
since 2011 in the eighth minute as Sarah Feola scored off a cross into the wide
side of the box as Gabrielle Vincent played the ball across the arc of the box
and into the area before Feola slammed it home to put U of L up 1-0 early in
the match.
After UL had the run of play for a majority of
the first half, the game changed in the 32nd minute when Tanya Samarzich scored
an unassisted goal to equalize the match and pull Kentucky level.
The teams would then go into half at 1-1 in
the scoreline, as UL had a 7-4 lead in shots, and each team had a corner
through the first 45 minutes.
To come out in the second half, Kaitlin Miller
put Kentucky ahead for the first time all night off a corner kick, as UK went
up 2-1. The corner was taken to the keepers left, and it came out to Kentucky
centerback Kelly Novak, who served in a splendid ball into the area, and Miller
was there to thrash it in the back of the net to put UK ahead, 2-1.
‘I was thrilled that we were able to solve the
tactical puzzle on the field as the match grew on and we fought for the entire
duration of the match. We were scored on and responded positively and that’s
something that we’ve been working on all week.” Lipsitz said.
Once Kentucky settled into the run of play in
the second half, the Wildcats would tack on a third as Zoe Swift finished off a
spectacular team goal in the 75th minute to put Kentucky up 3-1. Marissa Bosco
played a wide ball into space along the left flank, and then Foster Igoffo
served a perfectly-weighted pass to Swift, who slotted it past the keeper after
two touches in the box to give UK a two-goal lead.
Louisville ended the night with an 18-7 edge
in shots and a 7-3 edge in corners. Goalkeeper Evangeline Soucie earned her
first collegiate win, making two brilliant saves en route to a six-save
performance on the night to lock up a 3-1 win.
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.
