MADISON, WI ? The Kentucky women?s soccer team (5-3-1) was unable to overcome a 19-5 shot advantage by the Wisconsin Badgers (3-2-2) as they dropped a 1-0 decision in the Wisconsin Invitational, the final match of a three-match road trip.
After a scoreless first half, Wisconsin broke the defensive deadlock in the 54th minute when Kara Kabellis knocked home a header off a corner kick giving the Badgers a 1-0 lead. The goal snapped the Wildcats? stretch of four straight shutouts and also ended Kentucky goalie Anne Ogundele?s scoreless streak at 433:53 consecutive minutes.
Despite the result, Kentucky finished its 2006 non-conference slate with a 3-1 mark against Big 10 competition and 5-3-1 overall.
?We went 3-1-1 in five matches in 10 days, there?s nothing negative about that,? said head coach Warren Lipka. ?We just got tired. Wisconsin got two of their players back from injury and they were playing with a lot of energy and we just didn?t match it. We were defending so much that we just didn?t have it in us to push forward. Now we have to go out and regroup this week and get ready for conference.?
It was a nearly a 2-0 Badger advantage in the 78th minute when Krista Liskevych snapped off a header that was out of the reach of Ogundele, but Megan Jones was on the goal line to head the ball away and keep it a one-goal affair.
The Wildcats attempted to tie in the 89th minute when Nicola Holdsworth took a shot from 18 yards out that hit off the right crossbar and deflected away.
Kentucky?s offensive inconsistency continued as they failed to record a shot in the first half for the second straight match being out shot by the Badgers 10-0. The Cats had their best scoring opportunity in the 12th minute when they had a three-on-two break, but Megan Jones touched the ball a little too hard in front of her and it was gathered up by Wisconsin goalie Lynn Murray.
The Badgers had their best first half scoring chance in the 35th minute, taking a free kick off a Kentucky foul just outside the 18-yard box on the left side. Kabellis fired a shot on goal, but Ogundele was there for the diving save to preserve the scoreless match.
Wisconsin threatened again in the 52nd minute when Taylor Walsh penetrated the Wildcat defense and took a shot from the top of the 18-yard box but again Ogundele made a diving save to keep it a scoreless match.
The Wildcats will open SEC play next weekend as UK hits the road again and heads to Arkansas and LSU to close out its five-match road stretch.
