Sept. 15, 2002
Courtney Pollock recorded her first career goal as a Wildcat and Kara McCue posted her second game-winner of the season to lead the No. 19 University of Kentucky women’s soccer team to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Northwestern at the UK Soccer Complex Sunday. The game was delayed an hour and 15 minutes due to severe rain as the Cats (4-2-0) improved to 3-1-0 in the series vs. NU (2-2-1).
“We started to dig down a little deeper within ourselves,” Coach Warren Lipka said. “I think everyone dug down and really found a little more of themselves to give. We got a winning result from it and that says a lot about the character of this team.”
Kentucky found itself down at the half for the third-straight match when Julie Lipinski finished a corner kick taken by Aileen Guiney at 32:27. Lipinski controlled the ball in a crowd in front of the UK goal and was able to slip it out of the reach of goalkeeper Liz Butler’s lower left to give NU the early 1-0 edge. Northwestern outshot UK, 3-2, and took four corners to the Cats’ three through one period of play.
The second half belonged to the home Cats. Pollock found a nice time to collect her first goal in a UK uniform when the senior Indiana transfer headed in the equalizer from an Elizabeth Ramsey pass at 65:03. Swinging the momentum of the match, the Cats capitalized off a Christal Mattingly cross from 12 yards out on the left flank that McCue finished off to give UK a 2-1 lead it would not relinquish. The assist by Mattingly was the first of the senior’s career that spans 59 games.
“I didn’t even know I scored when I did it,” an exhausted McCue said. “Christal launched a perfect cross from far out and I was just in the right place at the right time. I just volleyed it – I didn’t even take a touch. It was very exciting and it was very important for our team to respond with a win today.”
The Wildcats return to action this Thursday when they play host to Southeast Missouri State at 7:30 p.m.
12FNU101UK022Scoring: Lipinski, NU (Guiney), 32:27; Pollock, UK (Ramsey), 65:03;McCue, (Mattingly), 67:52Shots: NU 7, UK 8Saves: NU 2, UK 0Corner Kicks: NU 5, UK 8Fouls: NU 19, UK 10Attendance: 307
– UK –
