ORANGE BEACH, AL ? In a match not even resembling their first get together of the season, the Kentucky women?s soccer team (12-6-3) defeated the Ole Miss Rebels (8-7-5) in the first round of the 2006 SEC Tournament 3-2.
When the two teams met up a week and a half ago, the result was a 0-0 affair a far cry from today?s five-goal onslaught. However, it is the second straight season Kentucky has defeated Ole Miss in the first round of the conference, coincidentally by the same score.
?We talked about tournament mentality and I think we didn?t have it in the first half and Ole Miss did. We were chasing and running, we got the early goal, but it just didn?t seem like we were playing well,? said SEC Coach of the Year Warren Lipka. ?At halftime we talked about tournament mentality, being tougher, playing for your last time and things like that. It was as much a tactical match as it was emotional and physical because Ole Miss had a ton of that today. We had to match it and that was the difference. I think we matched their work rate. There were some great goals in that game. This team just moved up another level. They get called upon to come back from a goal down and get a win and they did that. It?s another dimension of this team I didn?t know that we had.?
Kentucky wasted no time getting on the board as Giuleana Lopez broke the ice for the Wildcats 3:27 into the match. Nicola Holdsworth headed the ball towards the Ole Miss goal. Ole Miss goalie Ann Shelton made an advance on the ball, but Lopez won the footrace getting to the ball and dribbling around Shelton and to the goal for her 10th score of the season.
Ole Miss had an answer nearly six minutes later when Lyndsey Williams sent a cross in front of the Wildcat goal that Jennifer Hance finished off with a header to even the game at 1-1.
Hance wasn?t finished though scoring her second goal of the match in the 29th minute, collecting a loose ball in front of the goal and firing a shot that deflected off UK goalie Anne Ogundele and finished in the far right side of the goal for a 2-1 Ole Miss lead.
Kristin Kover tied the match at 2-2 in the 34th minute when she sized up a shot from 30 yards out and sent it over the head of a backpedaling Shelton for her fourth goal of the season.
Holdsworth reclaimed the lead for the Wildcats in the 57th minute on her second goal of the season. Kelsey Fenix took a free kick off an Ole Miss foul from the top left corner of the 18-yard box and chipped a shot into the box that Holdsworth headed just to the right of Shelton for a 3-2 UK lead.
?Nic (Holdsworth) making the slashing run like that, that?s courage, putting your head in like that and the goalkeeper coming out and all the defenders around,? said Lipka. ?That?s a brilliant goal. People stepped up and played today, that?s the bottom line.?
Hance nearly pulled off a hat trick in the 86th minute when she fired a shot from 25 yards out that would have crossed just under the crossbar, but Ogundele was able to punch the ball over the goal and preserve Kentucky?s lead.
The Wildcats? semifinal match will be on Friday against the winner of the Auburn-Tennessee match. Kickoff Friday is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET.
