LEXINGTON ? The Kentucky men?s soccer team couldn?t break through the Georgetown defense for the first 35 minutes of the game, but once it did, the floodgates opened as the Wildcats scored a 4-0 win on Wednesday night at the UK Soccer Complex.
With the win, UK improved to 3-1-1 on the season while the Tigers fell to 2-1. The game was played in front of 1,412 fans, the 11th largest crowd in school history and second largest this season. The shutout was the fifth straight for the Wildcats at home as they ran their home shutout streak to 554:11 dating back to last year.
Kentucky started slowly and was sluggish most of the first half before taking a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute on a score by freshman Masumi Turnbull (Richmond, British Columbia/McMath), the first of his career.
Turnbull, playing in his first career game after missing the last four with an injury, did not enter until the 33rd minute and scored less than three minutes later. His goal came on an indirect free kick inside the 18 after sophomore Michael D?Agostino (Langley, British Columbia/Langley) tapped it to him.
The kick was awarded after Georgetown goalkeeper Matt Brown set down the ball, preparing to kick it from the ground, and then picked it back up after sophomore Andrew Alexander (Atlanta, Ga./Pace) charged towards him.
The goal came after two near misses in the first half. Freshman Tim Walters (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) was denied his first career goal when his shot was cleared off the line by a defender.
?You have to give Georgetown credit for the way they played. They came ready to go and kept us out of rhythm in the first half,? Kentucky coach Ian Collins said.?
Junior Riley O?Neill (Campbell River, British Columbia/Tiberline) bounced one of the post in the 27th minute after a beautiful feed from sophomore Michael Strong (San Antonio, Texas/Alamo Heights).
In the second half, Kentucky came out aggressive and created numerous scoring chances, converting on three of them. The Wildcats were awarded a penalty kick when Strong was taken down in the box after freeing himself for a clear shot. Senior Thomas Senecal (Bethesda, Md./The Maret School) converted the penalty in the 57th minute for his first goal of the year.
The scoring continued in the 60th minute when O?Neill played a perfect ball through the defense on one-touch to a streaking Strong, who beat Brown far post. It was the first goal of the year for Strong, who tallied five a year ago.
Seven minutes later, freshman Bingy Lara (Las Cruces, N.M./Las Cruces) tallied his first career goal when he laced a shot from 35 yards out that found the back of the net. Lara added an assist in the game.
O?Neill, who had a shot careen off the post again in the second half, assisted on Lara?s goal to give him two for the game.
?We created a lot of quality chances in the second half,? Collins said. ?We turned the corner a number of times and probably should have increased our margin, but I?m pleased with the way we played.?
Georgetown only managed two shots in the contest, but both went on goal. Early in the second half, Josh Rogers broke free down the left flank and fired off an uncontested shot, but was stonewalled by keeper Andy Gruenebaum (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North). Randy Brown had the Tigers other shot.
Gruenebaum registered the shutout, his third of the year.
Kentucky returns to action on Sunday when it travels to Michigan looking to avenge a last year?s 1-0 overtime loss to the Wolverines.
