LEXINGTON ? Riley O?Neill scored a goal and added an assist to lead the Kentucky men?s soccer team to a 2-1 victory over No. 25 Tulsa on Friday night at the UK Soccer Complex.
The win extends UK?s home unbeaten streak to eight games, two shy of the school record. It is also the first win in Conference USA play for the Wildcats, who improved to 4-3-4 on the year and 1-1-1 in league play. The Golden Hurricane fell to 3-3-5 and 0-1-2 in the conference.
Kentucky controlled the game from the opening kickoff and never let up in handing Tulsa its first conference loss of the season.
?We worked very hard all week to prepare for this game and it showed on the field,” Kentucky head coach Ian Collins said. “Tulsa is a quality opponent and we knew we would have to battle for a win tonight. To beat a team of their caliber is a big win for our program.”
O?Neill (Campbell River, British Columbia/Timberline) created the game?s first goal in the 34th minute. He took a feed from Michael Strong (San Antonio, Texas/Alamo Heights) inside the left half of the box and fired a rocket on goal. Goalkeeper Tyrel Lacey made the save, but couldn?t corral the ball allowing Michael D?Agostino (Langley, British Columbia/Langley) to bury the rebound. It was the first goal of the year for D?Agostino.
In the 66th minute, O?Neill netted the eventual game winner. Packed in on a free kick, the Wildcat defense cleared the ball out to Ben Langwith (Des Moines, Iowa/Johnston) near the midfield stripe for an opportunity on the counterattack.
Langwith fed a beautiful ball through two defenders to a streaking O?Neill, who dribbles past Lacey as he came off the line to challenge and easily scored on the empty net.
With the game comfortably in hand, UK saw its home shutout streak come to an end in the 86th minute. After not allowing a goal at home in 729:17, the Wildcat defense finally gave up a score. Off a corner kick, one of just two in the game for the Golden Hurricane, the ball went to the far side of the box. It was played in and Eric Defreitas got a foot on it to score.
“You have to give Tulsa credit,” Collins said. “They played hard for all 90 minutes and didn’t let up when we had the lead. They made it interesting late in the game and made us work for the win.”
Kentucky returns to action on Sunday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Conference USA leader SMU.
