Oct. 18, 2002
The University of Kentucky women’s soccer team outshot Ole Miss, 17-5, but it wasn’t enough as UK fell 1-0 to UM in Southeastern Conference action at the UK Soccer Complex Friday night. The win for the Rebels (11-2-1/3-2-0 SEC) was the first-ever over the Wildcats (7-7-0/2-4-0 SEC), who have now dropped three-consecutive league matches.
It was night of missed opportunities for the Cats. Big Blue had its chances to control the math 10 minutes in when Kathryn Grandinetti fed Jen Wilkinson directly in front of the UM goal, but her blast from eight yards out was knocked away by an Ole Miss defender to prevent the goal.
Ole Miss ended the scoreless drought at 41:18 when freshman phenom Kelly Renie connected on a header served from Anna Sanders that beat UK goalkeeper Liz Butler just inside the right post. It was the 15th goal of the season for the Carmel, Ind., native who entered the match second in points (31 for 2.38 PPM) and goals (14 for 1.08 GPM) in the SEC. The goal secured UM’s first win over UK to put the Cats’ series lead at 5-1-0.
The Rebels would not relinquish the 1-0 halftime lead, as the Wildcats couldn’t capitalize from outshooting Mississippi 11-2 in the second period. Wilkinson appeared to have the equalizer when she took a pass from Grandinetti and launched a shot that was saved by Brittany Gillespie. Wilkinson controlled the deflection and fired again, but Gillespie’s diving save kept the Cats off the board.
UK turned up the pressure on the offensive end the final 10 minutes and played the majority of that span in Ole Miss territory. The final scoring threat of the night came with two minutes in regulation as Wilkinson sent the ball deep to Elizabeth Ramsey, who in turn, slipped a perfect pass to Lauren Russell, but the junior forward’s shot sailed just inches high of the crossbar.
The Wildcats return to action on Sunday, Oct. 20 when they play host to Mississippi State in a 2 p.m. ET match at the UK Soccer Complex. UK owns a 3-1-0 series lead over the Bulldogs.
12FOle Miss101Kentucky000
Scoring: Renie, UM (Sanders), 41:18Shots: UM 5, UK 17Saves: UM 8, UK 2Corner Kicks: UM 4, UK 0Fouls: UM 14, UK 9Attendance: 642
– UK –
