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LEXINGTON, Ky. ? Kentucky took advantage of a five-goal outburst in the second half on its way to a rousing 8-2 victory Sunday afternoon over Western Kentucky at the UK Soccer Complex. The Cats improve to 2-4 on the season, while Western falls to 4-2.
UK got on the board early in the match, as junior Courtney McCrudden found the back of the net in the fourth minute to give the Cats a 1-0 lead. Junior Jen Weakley tacked on a header eight minutes later to double the Wildcat cushion. Western responded in the 19th minute when Jenny Dalby?s free kick deflected off of Andrea Doogs and through the hands of UK goalkeeper Anne Ogundele and into the goal. UK freshman Kelsey Fenix corraled a cross cleared out by a Hilltopper defender in the 35th minute and booted in her first career goal from 17 yards out to give the Cats a 3-1 lead. Just before the intermission, WKU?s Erica Baker headed in a well-placed corner kick from Betsy Duncan to trim the UK lead to 3-2.
In the 55th minute, the Cats? Elisabeth Jones? directed a cross into the penalty box, where it was controlled by McCrudden, who played the ball to Alli Haeussler. The junior from Fairfield, Ohio found the back of the net for the second time in as many matches before taking a feed from sophomore Kristen Jedlo two minutes later and scoring once again. Just over a minute later, Weakley booted in a rebound of her own blocked shot to give the Cats a 6-2 lead.
Elisabeth Jones added Kentucky?s seventh goal in the 79th minute, and Jedlo?s 19-yard bending free kick found the net with less than two minutes remaining for the final 8-2 margin. Hauessler and Weakley netted two goals apiece, marking the first time a Wildcat had scored twice in a match since Elizabeth Ramsey scored two goals on Sept. 6, 2002 in UK?s 2-0 win at BYU. The Cats? last eight-goal scoring output came on Sept. 30, 1994 when UK hung eight goals on Wright State in an 8-1 victory in Dayton, Ohio. The Cats fell two goals shy of the team single-game record of 10 goals scored in 1993 against Oral Roberts.
Kentucky improves to 2-0 in its series with Western Kentucky. The Cats return to the UK Soccer Complex in their final non-conference match of the season Friday afternoon when Kentucky meets Missouri. The match is set for 2 p.m. EDT in Lexington.
