Just when it looked as if the UK women?s soccer team was going to need extra time to collect a win over Michigan (3-1-2) and a Big 10 sweep, junior Megan Jones hit a shot from 25 yards out with: 41 left on the clock to give the Wildcats (4-2-0) a 1-0 victory.
The two teams remained scoreless for the first 89 minutes before Jones pulled off her heroics. She possessed the ball in the Wolverine zone and kept advancing toward the goal while the Wolverine defenders continued to lay off of her. Finally she pulled the trigger on a high arching shot that floated just over the outstretched arms of Michigan goalie Megan Tuura for the game-winner.
?With a minute left I?m expecting to go into overtime, but Megan Jones did an outstanding job. She kept on going across and they kept dropping on her and she had a nice shot to win,? said head coach Warren Lipka.
Despite looking a little sluggish in the first half and getting stretched out on the field, the Wildcats were able to keep it a scoreless tie heading into halftime.
?In the second half we tightened up all over the field,? said Lipka. ?We took defending a little more personal. We didn?t let them have as much space and as much time. We battled and I think that?s what changed the game, the second half. The first half they had their chances; we had a couple early, but we got a little stretched out again which we had done in past games that we?ve tried to correct, but we got away with it and we were able reorganize at halftime and make some adjustments and it worked.?
Michigan threatened to claim an early lead taking a shot from four yards out in the 18th minute, but Jones was there to knock the ball away, erasing the Wolverine attack.
The teams played fairly evenly through the rest of the half despite the Wildcats being out shot through the first frame, 6-1. Senior Anne Ogundele continued her superb work between the posts as she recorded her second straight shutout, her third of the season and the ninth in her career. She is now just one shutout shy of Liz Butler for third on the UK all-time shutout list.
The victory gave the Wildcats a sweep on the weekend of the Big 10 as UK defeated Ohio State 3-0 on Friday night. Kentucky is 3-0 against the Big 10 this season having defeated Northwestern 2-1 in overtime earlier in the season. The Wildcats have one more team from the conference on the schedule as the team travels to Wisconsin this weekend for a tournament where they will take on the Wisconsin Badgers.
Kentucky won?t return to home action until Friday, September 29 as they embark on a five-game road swing over the next two and a half weeks beginning with a Wednesday match at Miami (OH).
