LEXINGTON, KY — The UK women’s soccer team (2-1-0) displayed all the right moves Friday night as they got a hat trick from freshman Giuleana Lopez in defeating the Eastern Kentucky Colonels (1-2-0) 7-0 in the Kentucky Invitational.
For the second straight match, the Wildcats were led by a rookie after freshman Katie Fahey netted two goals last weekend in UK’s 2-1 win at Northwestern. This time it was the right foot of Lopez that tallied a multi-goal effort as she recorded the fifth hat trick in Kentucky women’s soccer history and the first since teammate Kate Hughes pulled the trick against Bellarmine last season.
?I’m happy with the direction we’re going right now,? said head coach Warren Lipka. ?It’s still very early in the season. We need to continue to better ourselves in all aspects of the game in preparation for our next match against Louisville. It was a fine effort by the team tonight and I’m very proud of them.?
The Wildcats owned the first half, controlling the ball in Eastern Kentucky’s zone for the majority of the first 45 minutes, outshooting the Colonels 17-0, which included Lopez’s first two goals.
The Cats struck for two more goals in the first nine minutes of the second half to extend its lead to 4-0. It looked as if that was the way the match would end until UK strung together three more goals in the final 5:10 of the match including Lopez’s third and final goal with: 59 left.
Lopez finished one shot shy of the Kentucky single game shot record, an honor held by Keri Boyce (vs. South Carolina, 10/8/00) and Annie Gage (vs. Tennessee, 10/14/01) who each recorded 10 shots in one match.
Kentucky finished the evening posting 28 shots, including 18 on goal, outshooting the Colonels 28-4. The Wildcats improved their all-time record against EKU to 2-0 and have outscored their neighbors to the east 12-0 in the two meetings.
In addition to Lopez, Sarah Gaunt, Kristin Kover, Nicola Holdsworth and Megan Jones all tallied goals for the Wildcats. For Gaunt it was her seventh career goal, for Holdsworth her sixth, for Jones her third and for Kover her second.
Kentucky will look to continue their offensive prowess on Sunday against the Louisville Cardinals to close out tournament action. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. ET. and fans wearing any article of clothing that is colored blue or white will be able to enter the match for only one dollar.
