Wildcats Fall 1-0 at No. 9 South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Kentucky Wildcats (1-7-3, 1-2-1 SBC) returned to Sun Belt Conference play today in a 1-0 defeat to the No. 9 South Carolina Gamecocks (8-1-2, 2-0-2 SBC) at Eugene E. Stone III Stadium in Columbia, S.C.
Following a weather delay 25 minutes into the first half of play, the Gamecocks struck first in the 26th minute with a goal by Christian Ortiz to give the home side an early lead. That lead would hold heading into the halftime break.
Through the first 45 minutes, the Wildcats recorded six shots on goal, forcing Gamecocks’ goalkeeper Noah Scheidweiler into early action, but could not equalize prior to the halftime whistle.
In the 75th minute, forward Costa Iliadis was initially issued a yellow card for a challenge on South Carolina’s Omar Robbana, but was later sent off and the call was upgraded to a red card following a Gamecock challenge and a VAR review, which will cause him to miss the Wildcats’ next match.
In the closing stages of the match, forward Fredrik Skilberg had a final chance from inside the 18-yard box to level the score, but sent a shot over the goal, ending the match 1-0 in favor of South Carolina.
On the final stat line, the Wildcats recorded an even number of shots on goal with a 7-7 split, despite being outshot 16-13. In the second half, Kentucky was able to create multiple quality goal scoring chances but recorded just one shot on goal and were unable to convert and find an equalizer.
Goalkeeper Benjamin Rasmussen continued his recent run of good form, recording another six saves to improve his season total to 40.
The third and final match of this three-game road trip for the Wildcats will be against the No. 16 West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown on Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. ET.
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