Sept. 9, 2009
LEXINGTON, KY – The Wildcat defense continued to flex its defensive muscle, recording its third shutout in its last four matches, playing to a 0-0 tie against the Morehead State Eagles.
The UK defense has allowed only two goals on the season in 490 minutes. Wildcat goalie Sydney Hiance recorded her third shutout of the season and the 11th of her career while lowering her goals against average this season to 0.37.
“We’re always happy to get the shutout, but I think the backline will be the first to say that they were unorganized and not themselves tonight,” said UK head coach Jon Lipsitz. “Right now our biggest weakness is that we’re not winning our individual battles and until we do that, we won’t score. We can be as technically sound as we want to be, but in the end it all comes down to winning individual battles.”
Offensively, the Wildcats (2-1-2) went scoreless for the third straight match. UK’s last goal came in the 18th minute of the second game of the season against Louisville, 381 minutes ago. UK did manage 12 shots for the second straight match.
Giuleana Lopez had a golden opportunity in the 50th minute to spot the Cats a 1-0 lead when Alyssa Telang pushed a ball ahead through the Morehead State defense to Lopez. Lopez tried to flick the ball over charging MSU goalie Lily Meisner’s head, but Meisner was able to get just enough of a hand on the ball to deflect it up where an Eagle defender was able to clear it away.
The Wildcats threatened again in the 76th minute off a corner kick when Lopez settled the ball and pushed it back to a wide open Julie Hull who fired a shot high from the top of the 18-yard box.
Morehead State had the game’s first scoring opportunity, in the fifth minute. Bethany Davidson sent a corner kick towards the back post where Erin Adams put a header just over the crossbar.
The Wildcats mounted their first legitimate scoring threat in the 16th minute when Giuleana poked a ball through the Eagle defense to Telang, but Telang’s ensuing shot went wide left.
Kentucky outshot Morehead State 12-6, while recording eight corner kicks to the Eagles nine.
The Wildcats stay on the road, traveling to Austin, Texas this weekend for a Sunday match with the Texas Longhorns.
