The University of Kentucky women?s soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to the No. 13 Tennessee Lady Vols today, Oct. 16, at the UK Soccer Complex. The Wildcats suffered their first home loss of the season and move to 6-3-7 on the year with a 2-3-3 mark in the Southeastern Conference. The Lady Vols are now 9-5-1 overall and 7-1 in the SEC.
UT started the scoring as Jackie Acevedo tallied her first goal of the season on a give-and-go from Emily Redberg during the 18th minute of play.
The Wildcats knotted the score when freshman Kristin Kover recorded her first collegiate goal on a break-away and put the ball past UT keeper Vanessa Phillips-Bosshart in the net. Fellow freshman Rahcel Ulrich was credited with the assist on the Kentucky goal which tied the game at 1-1.
The score remained tied until Acevedo struck again, this time with an empty-net goal after UK keeper Anne Ogundele stepped out to attempt the stop. Genna Gorman assisted on the game-winning goal as the Vols went on to win by the 2-1 final.
UK outshot the Vols 7-5, including a 4-3 margin in the opening period. UT had three shots on goal to just two for the Cats. Kentucky is still without a win when their opponents score first, holding a 0-2-3 record when its opponent scores first this season.
?I think we were slow to step up to the pressure today and when we did step up, we were a step behind and that let them find their free person,? said head coach Warren Lipka. ?That?s the first time that?s happened this year.
?We had the opposite situation on Friday night where our defense was really sharp, but our offense struggled,? added Lipka. ?I think when you have a young team, those kinds of things happen. We are a better team than we were last year, but we just came up short. We have two weeks to fix that before the SEC tournament and I think we can. We can?t get down because we have plenty of soccer left this season.?
The Wildcats return to action in their final home game of the season as they host Mississippi on Friday, Oct. 21, at 5 p.m. UK will honor seniors Liz Butler, Kristen Jedlo, Courtney McCrudden, Kristin Moyer, Ashley Schillig and Jen Weakley prior to the game.
