Oct. 31, 2012
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – Surrendering two goals less than two minutes apart, the University of Kentucky women’s soccer team (13-6-1, 8-5-1 SEC) fell to the Missouri Tigers 2-1 in the final quarterfinal game of the day at the 2012 Southeastern Conference Soccer Tournament from the Orange Beach SportsPlex in Orange Beach, Ala.
“We have been talking about wanting to be a better second-half team. Clearly, I haven’t done my job,” UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said. “We were not our best in the first half. It is better that we do this now than nine days from now in the NCAA Tournament. We have to learn from this and we have to regroup.”
Missouri (14-6-0, 9-5-0 SEC) took the early lead on a goal from Haley Krentz, who volleyed home a nice goal from nine yards out to give the Tigers the edge. Kaysi Clark got the ball deep on the end line and shook a defender before lobbing a cross into the area where it was put home.
Just two minutes later, Mizzou upped their lead to 2-0 when All-SEC performer Alyssa Diggs planted a ball past Kayla King on a give-and-go exchange. The ball was from Krentz, who gave the ball back to Diggs who beat King to the middle of the net.
It was just the second time all year that Kentucky had conceded two goals in one half of play all season, as Arkansas and Texas A&M each scored twice in 45 minutes vs. Kentucky.
Caitlin Landis scored with just over 17 minutes to go in the second half on a dangerous ball played in the area. Mizzou keeper McKenzie Sauerwein elected to come out of her perch, and Landis beat her to the far side to tuck it home. Landis’ tally was her third goal in the last two outings for UK, scoring her fourth goal of the season. The goal brings Landis to a season total of 14 points, good enough for second on the team.
With the loss, Kentucky falls to 1-6-1 in games in which they trailed at the half. In addition, the loss also comes as the sixth on the season when UK concedes the opening goal of the game its opponents.
Kentucky will learn its NCAA Tournament fate on Monday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET during the NCAA Soccer Tournament Selection Show. The show will be shown live online at NCAASports.com. The Wildcats entered Wednesday night’s game No. 26 nationally in RPI ratings conducted by the NCAA. The top-32 teams will earn the right to host an NCAA Tournament First-Round game.
For continuing coverage of UK women’s soccer, log on to UKathletics.com.
