Oct. 19, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Behind Arin Gilliland’s team-leading sixth goal of the season and brilliant play in the back line, the University of Kentucky women’s soccer team (11-5-1, 6-4-1 SEC) downed the South Carolina Gamecocks 1-0 in a Friday night game nationally telecasted by Fox Sports South.
“I think we are changing and evolving,” UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said. “There was no such thing as winning 1-0 games early in the season. We knew we needed to score a lot more because we were giving up a lot of goals but I think we’re defending as a group much better. We’re sort of finding a way. As the season moves on, you hope that you learn how to do that.”
The goal came in the late stages of the first half, as Gilliland got the ball off a South Carolina (5-8-4, 2-6-3 SEC) turnover in midfield. The sophomore dribbled through a couple of initial defenders, and fired a shot that took a slight deflection off a Gamecock defender, and changed the path of the shot. The ball sailed on the wet pitch into the near-side and the Lexington, Ky., native clocked her sixth goal of the season.
Kentucky’s offense generated many more opportunities in the second half, as the Cats outshot South Carolina 11-6, including an 8-3 margin in the second frame. Both teams ended up with three corner kicks on the night, as all three of the Wildcats’ corners came in the second half.
Junior goalkeeper, and defending Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Week, Kayla King posted her third-straight shutout, as the UK back line only forced the Louisville, Ky., native to make one save on six shots faced. King came into the season with no shutouts to her resume, and has logged four on the 2012 campaign. With the win, King now improves to 10-2-0 on the year in the cage.
Gilliland took a team-high four shots in the game, with two of them being on target. Caitlin Landis also had two shots on goal with three overall shots, and freshman Kelli Hubly had two shots.
The Wildcats now move to 11-5-1 overall and 6-4-1 SEC. With the win tonight, Kentucky has now clinched a spot in Orange Beach, Ala., for the third-consecutive season.
The win was UK’s third-straight 1-0 win, as Kentucky downed Tennessee on Oct. 12 in Knoxville, Tenn., and defeated Georgia 1-0 in Athens, Ga., Sunday afternoon.
UK will finish out the weekend in Lexington, playig host to the Auburn Tigers at 2:30 p.m. ET at the UK Soccer Complex. The game will serve as the front end of a doubleheader with UK men’s soccer, who is slated for a 5:00 p.m. ET kickoff.
For continuing coverage of UK women’s soccer, log on to UKathletics.com.
