The accolades continue to roll in for Kentucky junior midfielder Megan Jones as she has been named to the Soccerbuzz National Elite Team of the Week.
Jones helped lead the Kentucky women?s soccer team (5-2-0) to a weekend sweep of Ohio State and Michigan scoring four points on a goal and two assists. She assisted on two goals in Friday night?s 3-0 victory over the Buckeyes including an assist on the game winner. She then recorded the game-winning goal on Sunday with 41 seconds left in the match en route to the 1-0 victory over Michigan. Not to be overlooked though was her defensive prowess, as early in the Michigan match, she recorded a save on the goal line to keep the score knotted at 0-0 in order to set up her late game heroics.
The national honor is the first of Jones? career and the second time a Kentucky player has received the honor. Susie Ledzianowski was named to the National Elite Team of the Week during the 2001 season.
The Lawrenceville, Georgia native was also named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week a few days earlier.
Following Wednesday night?s 1-0 victory over Miami (OH), Jones and her UK teammates head farther north to Madison, Wisconsin where they will participate in the Wisconsin Invitational taking on UW-Milwaukee and host school Wisconsin.
The Cats are currently riding a three-match win streak, recording shutouts in all three matches. Three different Wildcats have tallied game-winning goals in those matches including Kristin Kover (vs. Ohio State), Jones (vs. Michigan) and Kelsey Fenix (vs. Miami (OH)).
Kentucky will face the UW-Milwaukee Panthers in the first match of the tournament on Friday. The Wildcats own a 2-0-0 mark against the Panthers but the two have not met on the pitch since the 1995 season. However, it was their first match that will be forever be etched in UK soccer lore. Taking place on September 5, 1992, Kentucky defeated UWM 5-2 in overtime in the first match in Kentucky women?s soccer history.
The Wildcat offense, which ranks third in the SEC, will have to find a way to get past Panther goalie Erin Kane who has registered a 1.25 GAA on the season. UK is led offensively by freshman Giuleana Lopez who has tallied nine points off three goals and three assists.
Wildcat senior Anne Ogundele has been a wall between the posts for UK in recent matches as she is currently riding a three-match shutout streak, resulting in 270 consecutive scoreless minutes.
Kentucky will close out the weekend with host school Wisconsin on Sunday. The Badgers hold the edge in that series 3-1-0 which includes a 3-1 win over the Wildcats in Lexington during the 2004 season.
?These are two big games with both teams being ranked in our region,? said head coach Warren Lipka. ?Every game on our schedule is tough and I feel this weekend we?ll round out what we need to do and fix before going into league play next week.?
Kickoff between the Wildcats and Panthers on Friday is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET while Sunday?s affair with Wisconsin is slated for 2:00 p.m.
