KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee senior defender Keeley Dowling scored the game winner with four seconds remaining in regulation to send Kentucky to a crushing 1-0 defeat Sunday afternoon at the Tennessee Soccer Complex in Knoxville. Kentucky drops to 6-8-1 and 3-4-1 in the SEC, while the sixth-ranked Lady Vols improve to 11-2-2 overall and 8-0 in the conference.
With 10 seconds remaining, UT?s Ali Christoph sent a 30-yard free kick into the box. After a wild flurry in front of the goal, Dowling booted a looping shot just over the reach of Kentucky goalkeeper Liz Butler for the last-second game winner.
Tennessee?s Christoph opened the first half with shots in sixth and 10th minutes that sailed well over the goal. Elisabeth Jones registered the Cats? lone first-half shot on goal in the 14th minute, which was saved by Tennessee goalkeeper Vanessa Phillips-Bosshart. Tennessee served its first corner kick in the 15th minute and lined subsequent corner kicks in the 22nd and 31st minutes, but the Kentucky defensive backfield thwarted any offensive opportunities. Kentucky produced a 40th-minute flurry in front of the goal but came up empty. Megan Jones lined a cross from the far left corner to Ashley Menick just outside of the box, though Menick?s ensuing shot was blocked by a Tennessee defender. UK?s Erin Witchey gathered the rebound, but her subsequent shot sailed high over the goal.
Tennessee struck corner kicks in the 46th, 47th, 48th, 71st, 83rd and 87th minutes, but the Cats stood tall on each occasion. After two Kentucky corner kicks rendered fruitless in the 48th and 54th minutes, Kentucky?s Elisabeth Jones sent a promising cross into the box, but the pass just missed the reach of UK?s Jen Weakley, and the two teams remained scoreless. Tennessee nearly got on the board in the 81st minute, but Butler stopped a point-blank shot from UT?s Kayla Lockaby to keep the Lady Vols off the board. UK freshman Nathalie Bolder sent a long, bending 88th-minute shot from deep in the right flank toward the goal, but the shot sailed just over the upper left corner of the goal.
Kentucky hits the road again this coming Friday when the Cats meet Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss.
