The Kentucky Women?s Soccer Team picked up where it left off last fall with a stifling defensive performance on Sunday to take 1st Place in the UK Indoor Invitational in Nutter Field house on UK?s campus.
The Cats started off their day with a 2-0 victory over the Murray State Racers. Junior Kelsey Fenix got on the end of fellow junior Caitlin Coughlin?s corner kick to head home what proved to be the game winner. Coughlin added an insurance goal when she won three consecutive tackles while pressuring the Racer defense from her forward position. The follow-through on the last tackle resulted in the ball finding the back of the net from Coughlin?s foot.
UK faced off with Kent State University out of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) in their second match of the day. A corner kick provided the game winner again when sophomore Nicola Holdsworth volleyed home junior Nathalie Bolder?s serve. Freshman Cindy Abbott scored her first goal in intercollegiate action when she made the score 2-0 when she got the ball off of a Flash defender and beat the KSU keeper.
The Cats were in the driver?s seat in their pool after winning their first two matches heading into the team?s final pool match-up against the Bellarmine Knights. This time Holdsworth and Coughlin teamed up to score the lone Wildcat goal. Holdsworth got on the end of a Coughlin serve and sent the ball past the diving BU keeper to give UK the 1-0 victory.
Morehead State emerged from the other group with two wins and a tie to face the Big Blue in the championship game. Holdsworth wasted little time in scoring her third goal and third game winner of the day. Fellow sophomore Laura Speer found her classmate streaking into the box, Holdsworth pulled down Speer?s pass and finished for a 1-0 UK lead. Freshman Katie Fahey then found Holdsworth on the move again. The sophomore out of Dayton, Ohio sent a pass across the face of the goal which junior Megan Jones finished off to give the Cats their final margin of 2-0.
Not to be overlooked was the stellar performance from the Wildcat defense. Redshirt freshman Laura Baker played every minute in goal. The six foot net minder played well as the Cats look to replace departed All-American goalkeeper Anne Ogundele. She recorded seven saves on the day; three in the championship match. Baker got plenty of help from a defense made up of Bolder, Fahey, Speer, freshman Julie Hull and sophomore Kristin Kover.
?It was a solid effort against some quality competition for our first play date this spring,? commented 2006 SEC Coach of the Year Warren Lipka. ?We were happy to host those seven schools here in our field house. Overall, our players and coaches understand that there is still a lot of work to be done for us to reach our goals for next fall. I did feel that Nic (Holdsworth) obviously did a great job around the goal today. Caitlin (Coughlin) was also able to make some things happen out there. It was good to see Laura Baker and some of our other young players have a positive impact.?
The defending 2006 SEC Tournament Champions return to action this Sunday, February 25th in Bloomington, Indiana where they will participate in the Hoosier Indoor Invite. The Cats and Hoosiers face off in John Mellencamp Pavilion on the campus of Indiana University at 9:30 a.m. to begin the action that day. Kentucky is also slated to play Dayton at 1p.m. and Indiana State at 2:30 p.m. in what should prove to be a tough field of teams.
