Sept. 11, 2008
Morgantown, W.Va. – The University of Kentucky women’s soccer team (1-4-0) was unable to mount any offense in dropping their third straight match, a 1-0 heartbreaker to the 14th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers (4-1-0).
The Mountaineers took a 1-0 lead with just over 17 minutes left in the first half when Kelsey Fowler centered a free kick from the right side about eight yards in front of the box. Amanda Cicchini got a head on the ball that trickled through the legs of UK goalie Sydney Hiance for the score.
“Our back four played well,” said UK head coach Warren Lipka. “But we’re giving up goals at crucial times. You can’t go on the road against a top 15 team and give up a goal like that.”
Despite two corner kicks in a 30 second span, Kentucky never mounted a serious threat in the second half until with :12 left in the match Katie Fahey got a header off that sent WVU goalie Kerri Butler crashing into the far left post while making the save.
West Virginia had their first legitimate scoring opportunity just over 15 minutes into the match when Megan Mischler worked her way between a couple Wildcat defenders and had an open look at the goal from eight yards out, however her shot went just wide right of the goal.
The Wildcats answered nearly three and a half minutes later when Laura Novikoff took a pass from Rachel Ulrich and worked her way down for a shot from the left side about eight yards out, but Butler made a diving save to thwart Novikoff’s attempt.
The Wildcats have the weekend off from competition, but will return to action on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at Evansville.
