Jon Lipsitz and UK women’s soccer remained unbeaten with an overtime victory over Central Michigan on Friday evening. (UK Athletics)
It may be college football’s kickoff weekend, but European football is demanding the attention of the Big Blue Nation. With both of their seasons in full swing, Kentucky’s men’s and women’s soccer teams remain unbeaten.Playing in the 2011 Courtyard by Marriott Airport Cardinal Classic, Jon Lipsitz and the women’s soccer team won a heart-stopping 2-1 victory over Central Michigan to move to 4-0-0 on the young season. UK jumped out a first half lead on a goal by Taylor Parker before the Chippewas tied it up early in the second half, eventually sending the game to overtime. Four and half minutes into the extra period, Stuart Pope scored her second goal of the season on a corner kick header from Kelsey Hunyadi. The overtime win was the first of the Lipsitz era at UK.Not to be outdone, the newly-ranked Wildcats posted a 2-1 win over Wright State in their first of two games in the UK Invitational at the UK Soccer Complex, moving to 3-0-0. No. 21 UK was led by Matt Lodge, who scored and assisted on Brad Walker’s goal just 2:16 into the game, the eighth-fastest goal in school history. Wright State scored in the 90th minute, but the performance remained a dominating one for Ian Collins’ team.Both the men’s and women’s team will be in action again on Sunday. At 12:00 p.m., the women take on Baylor in Louisville, Ky., while the men play at 2:30 p.m. against IUPUI at the UK Soccer Complex. Another pair of wins and UK’s two teams could both be ranked come next week.