Oct. 30, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After finishing the regular season with five-consecutive wins, including four shutouts, the University of Kentucky women’s soccer team takes the Southeastern Conference’s longest winning streak into postseason play. The Wildcats carry the No. 4 seed into Orange Beach, Ala., and play the No. 5 seeded Missouri Tigers in a quarterfinal match on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. ET.
“We are very excited to begin postseason play,” UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said. “We are now in the part of our season where every game becomes a single-elimination tournament. It is exciting for all of us, and Missouri presents a great challenge. They are phenomenally coached, well organized in the back, and are lethal up top on attack. We played them well on the road in the regular season, so we are looking forward to the rematch.”
The Wildcats have shutout four of their last five opponents behind SEC Defensive Player of the Week Kayla King’s 0.01 GAA in the past five contests. King has a phenomenal 12-2-0 record in the pipes this season, only allowing eight goals in 14 appearances.
Kentucky’s offense has been led by sophomore Arin Gilliland, who has registered seven goals, six assists and a team-high 20 points on the 2012 campaign. The Lexington, Ky., native has been a monumental impact player since being moved to the front line, charting a goal in three of the last five games, and striking for at least a point in each of the last five games.
In the regular-season meeting between the two sides, Kentucky found themselves down a goal in the 84th minute before Gilliland scored on a far-side run on a ball played in from senior defender Alyssa Telang. The goal would stand to be the equalizer, sending the game to overtime, where No. 16 Missouri found the game-winner in the 95th minute off the foot of Alyssa Diggs, who struck for her second goal of the match.
Wednesday night’s game will be the fourth game of the day at the Orange Beach Sportsplex, with kickoff slated for 8:30 p.m. ET. The winner of the match will advance on to face either (1) Florida, (8) LSU or (9) Ole Miss in the semifinals.
This will be UK’s third-consecutive appearance in the SEC Tournament. The Wildcats are making their 16th appearance overall, claiming two SEC Tournament titles in 1995 and 2006. UK holds an all-time record of 9-7 in SEC Tournament quarterfinal games. Missouri, as a new member to the SEC, will be making it’s first-ever trip to Orange Beach.
The SEC Digital Network will begin its inaugural year broadcasting all first-round games, and quarterfinals live online. ESPN then picks up coverage of the event, as ESPN3.com will carry the semifinal matches on Friday, with ESPNU carrying live action of the SEC Tournament Championship Game at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.
The SEC Digital Network will also have its own live stats system for all nine games on the docket at SECSports.com.
For continuing coverage of UK women’s soccer, log on to UKathletics.com.
