LEXINGTON ? Josh Alcala scored in the 68th minute to break a scoreless tie and lift South Carolina to a 1-0 victory over the Kentucky men?s soccer team on Friday night at Eugene E. Stone III Stadium.
The loss drops Kentucky to 4-5-4 for the year and 1-3-1 in Conference USA. The Wildcats have still yet to win a game away from home this year, going 0-4-3. The Gamecocks extended their unbeaten streak to seven and improved to 6-5-1 and 3-0-1 in the league.
Mike Sambursky beat the defense down the left side of the box and forced Andy Gruenebaum (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North) off his line. When Gruenebaum came out, Sambursky fed Alcala at the six yard box, who had his shot deflected wide. However, just before the ball rolled out of bounds, it played off a UK defender right back to Alcala for an empty net goal.
It was South Carolina?s only shot on goal for the entire night, compared to five for Kentucky.
The best chance for UK to tie came in the 86th minute off a throw in. Thomas Senecal (Bethesda, Md./The Maret School) knocked the throw down in the box to Travis Young (Raleigh, N.C./The Ravenscroft School), whose shot was saved by a diving Mike Gustavson. Young had three of Kentucky?s shots on frame.
The first half was controlled by the Wildcats as they held possession and doubled up USC on shots. However, the effort led to a scoreless draw going into the break.
Kentucky had a chance to take the lead in the 59th minute. Jess Mitchell (Plano, Texas/Plano) went on a run through the middle of the field and fed it to Tim Walters (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) on the right flank. Walters took the ball down to the end line and crossed right in front of the goal, just out of the reach of a streaking Young.
Less than a minute later, Young sent a ball in that got past a Gamecock defender and Walters couldn?t get a shot off.
The Wildcats were forced to play without leading scorer Riley O?Neill (Campbell River, British Columbia/Timberline) and starting midfielder Nathan Marks (Louisville, Ky./Trinity). O?Neill was awarded a red card last time out while Marks had picked up his fifth yellow of the year.
Kentucky continues its Carolinas road swing on Sunday when it travels to Greenville, N.C., to face C-USA foe East Carolina.
