Nov. 7, 2002
OXFORD, Miss. – The No. 6 seed University of Kentucky women’s soccer team defeated the No. 3 seed Mississippi, 2-1, in first round play of the Southeastern Conference Women’s Soccer Tournament Thursday night at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium. The Wildcats (11-7-0) will face No. 2 seed Tennessee (14-5-1) in the semifinals Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
“We finished our opportunities tonight,” Coach Warren Lipka said. “I think the difference in the second half was the play of our goalkeeper Liz Butler. She made two incredible game-saving saves at the end of the match to secure the victory.”
The Cats had the first offensive threat when Elizabeth Ramsey dribbled deep into the Ole Miss box and passed to an open Kathryn Grandinetti, but the freshman’s shot sailed inches left of the post at 35:48. It took Ole Miss seven minutes to capitalize on the misfire when Kristal Menard centered to Lindley Beckman and the sophomore midfielder’s blast from 23 yards out cruised out of the reach of UK goalkeeper Liz Butler with 29:37 showing on the clock.
Kentucky answered the Rebel score with 20 minutes remaining in the half when Jen Wilkinson netted her third goal of the season on a pass from Elizabeth Ramsey. The junior midfielder, who earlier this week was voted to the Verizon Academic All-District IV First Team, shot from eight yards out and beat UM goalie Brittany Gillespie’s reach to the bottom right of the net to even the match at one goal apiece.
UK claimed its lead with five minutes to play before the break as Ramsey worked her magic again. The All-SEC forward generated the go-ahead goal as she slipped a short pass to Wilkinson who subsequently found a streaking Lauren Russell on the right side of the box. Russell’s shot connected from 12 yards out to give the Cats a 2-1 lead at intermission. By collecting her second point of the match, Ramsey moved into a fourth-place tie on UK’s all-time scoring list with Carrie Staber who recorded 71 from 1995-98.
“I saw Jen coming down the middle of the field and I ran wide-right,” Russell said. “She played a perfect through ball. I got my hips around and tried to play it past the keeper to the upper left and it went in.”
Ole Miss missed a serious scoring opportunity in the second period when Anna Sanders was awarded a penalty kick after a tackle in the box by the UK defense. Sanders’ aimed left but fired right as the ball sailed by the right post in the 81st minute to preserve the 2-1 UK edge.
“We just worked hard all season and from the very beginning our goal was to win the SEC,” Ramsey said. “We wanted to peak at the right time and that’s what we’re doing right now.”
The Rebels’ chances kept coming as the home club fired a bevy of shots, two off the crossbar, but none could find a home in the UK net as the Cats advance to the semifinals for the sixth time in eight years. UK is riding the crest of a four-game winning streak into Friday’s match with UT and will look to avenge a 2-0 loss to the Lady Vols in Knoxville on Oct. 13. UT advanced to the semifinals with a 1-0 win over Georgia.
“I think our entire team knew we had to step up because it’s the end of the season,” Butler said. “It wasn’t a shutout but it was one of our best games all season. It was a war and we made it through as a team- we go right back at it tomorrow against Tennessee.”
Kentucky 2 0 2Ole Miss 1 0 1Scoring: Beckman, UM (Menard), 15:23; Wilkinson, UK (Ramsey), 26:41; Russell, UK (Ramsey, Wilkinson), 40:02Shots: UK 8, UM 16Saves: UK 3, UM 5Corner Kicks: UK 3, UM 8
– UK –
