Sept. 29, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Junior Stuart Pope scored her team-high ninth goal of the season in the 71st minute to lift the No. 25/19 University of Kentucky women’s soccer team to a 1-0 win on Sunday night at the UK Soccer Complex.
“I think today was our best performance of the year,” UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said. “There might have been days where we have scored more goals or had more opportunities, but Georgia is such a fantastic team. We watched a lot of film and saw how difficult this game was going to be. For us to win this game means the world to us.”
The win for Kentucky comes as the Wildcats’ eighth in the last nine matches and moves UK into a tie for second in the Southeastern Conference with six points in SEC play.
In the scoring sequence, Kentucky sophomore Kelli Hubly kept the ball alive in the attacking third, and it by sliding and poking the ball with her cleat to a waiting Pope 20 yards from goal. After the rebound was collected by Pope at the top of the box, Pope took two touches to her right and fired a shot to the far post and Woody’s right for the goal.
With the goal, Pope increases her lead as the leading goal scorer on the team with nine on the season, and has now scored in eight of the last nine matches. Pope also leads Kentucky in points on the season with 20.
The win for Kentucky marks the first time the Wildcats have beaten the Dawgs in Lexington since the 1999 season. Sunday night’s win is also Kentucky’s second-straight victorious result over UGA for the first time since 1998-99.
Kayla King collected her fifth clean sheet of the season, trying her career high for shutouts in a season that was set a year ago. King made the save of the night halfway through the second half on a shot from distance that King deflected upwards, and forced the ball tracking for the back of the net to hit the bottom of the crossbar. The Louisville, Ky., native collected two saves on the night, stopping all 14 of Georgia’s shots.
Sunday was also Kentucky’s annual Kick-Cancer Match in which UK wore gold jerseys to honor and support the fight against pediatric cancer. In addition to the jerseys, the game ball and Lipsitz’s tie will be auctioned off as well.
“I cried a little bit before the game when (Steve and Crystal Berger) walked out on the field,” Lipsitz said of the pregame ceremonies in which the team honored the late Allison Berger. “To be able to wear our gold jerseys tonight on national television – there is nothing better.”
All of the players’ jerseys will be up for auction on UKathletics.com with 100 percent of the proceeds going directly to the fight and research of pediatric cancer.
For continuing coverage of UK women’s soccer, log on to UKathletics.com.
