Sep 1, 2013
TOLEDO, Ohio. – The University of Kentucky women’s soccer team dominated every statistical category en route to a 2-1 win over the Toledo Rockets on Sunday afternoon, completing a weekend sweep for the first time this season, bumping its record to 2-1-1 on the year.
“We are a very young team,” UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said. “We challenged them at halftime to continue to be active in the attack, make dynamic runs and keep pushing forward. We obviously were not happy with the way we played last week, and they all understood that, and responded with a great weekend of soccer. Toledo presented some challenges that we haven’t faced all season, but we came through in a big way and got a solid road win.”
Kentucky broke through in the 55th minute after leading the Rockets 14-0 in the shots category before Stuart Pope tucked away her third goal on the weekend, giving the Wildcats the 1-0 lead. Pope got a great centering ball from Arin Gilliland at the top of the six-yard box, who then beat the keeper to her left, piercing the back of the net for the goal. The ball from Gilliland came from the wide side run of Zoe Swift, who then served the ball to Gilliland to give the Cats the scoring chance.
Less than three minutes later, UK doubled their lead to 2-0 when Swift punched through her fourth-career goal, and fourth goal on the weekend in the 57th minute. Senior Caitlin Landis played a ball from the far side into the box just above the penalty stripe, and it was buried by Swift, who continued her stellar weekend. The ball to Landis on the far side came in from sophomore Courtney Raetzman, who played the ball out of midfield to a running Landis down the left flank.
The game for Swift comes directly after she recorded the first hat trick by a UK player since 2006 on Friday night in a 7-0 win over Eastern Kentucky. Between the attacking duo of Gillland, Pope and Swift, the three combined for 21 points on the weekend.
Kentucky dominated the stat categories, outshooting the Rockets 25-4 in the 90 minutes, and earning 11 corner kicks to Toledo’s two. The Rockets managed just two shots on goal in the match.
The next match for the Wildcats will be on Friday night with the Louisville Cardinals coming to the UK Soccer Complex for a 7:30 p.m. ET fixture. Last year, the Wildcats toppled the Cardinals 2-0 at Cardinal Park thanks to two goals in the second half.
For continuing coverage of UK women’s soccer, log on to UKathletics.com.
