Throughout the fall, women’s soccer standout Arin Gilliland will be describing Kentucky’s season from her perspective in a regular blog for espnW.com. On Wednesday, the first installment was published, and it came at an interesting time.The first weekend of UK’s season was a disappointing one, as the Wildcats dropped a 3-1 decision at No. 10 Wake Forest and came away with only a draw at home against Utah. Head coach Jon Lipsitz didn’t mince words in demanding more from his team, and his captains – one of whom is Gilliland – followed suit.

As captains, we concluded that the issue that weekend was on us. We had not stressed to our younger players the heart, passion, desire and grit you must play with when wearing the Kentucky-crested jersey. We will make sure we don’t make that same mistake; a lack of passion will never be a setback for us again in 2013.With a roster of only eight upperclassmen and 22 underclassmen, some people might think we are at a disadvantage. But I beg to differ. The talent we have brought in through our younger classes, coupled with the wisdom and passion for the game of our upperclassmen, could be lethal this year.Last weekend, we played Eastern Kentucky on Friday and were at Toledo on Sunday. We expected nothing less than greatness after the previous weekend. We beat EKU 7-0, making a statement that we are Kentucky and this is our state!

UK would go on to sweep the weekend, defeating Toledo 2-1 to move to 2-1-1 entering a Friday-night showdown with archrival Louisville.For more inside perspective on the way the Cats rebounded from a tough first weekend, check out Gilliland’s complete entry and make sure to stay tuned all season long for more.Link: Season off to challenging start