Oct. 4, 2013
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Sophomore Kelli Hubly scored her first goal of the season, which turned out to be the game-winning goal in the 49th minute and also assisted on Kentucky’s first goal to lift the No. 19 Wildcats past Mississippi State, 3-1, on Friday night at MSU Soccer Stadium.
Kentucky (9-2-1, 3-1-0 SEC) picked up its ninth win in its last 10 overall matches, and also collected its fourth-straight win over the Bulldogs. In the last four seasons, UK has outscored MSU 13-2 and now owns the series lead 12-3-0.
“We have been struggling to finish quite a bit,” UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said. “As much as we have worked on that, we still need to finish the chances that we have a little bit more. We need to focus on doing the details better like possession and playing and moving. With that being said, it’s a road win in the SEC, so that almost feels like one and a half victories. We faced a team tonight that gave us all we could handle and we are happy to survive.”
The game’s opening goal came off the foot of senior Caitlin Landis in the 37th minute, when she laced a shot past the diving keeper into the right corner of the net. Landis got an entry ball played in from Danielle Krohn, who then gave it off to Hubly who served the ball over to Landis for the finish. The goal for Landis was her second of the season, as she also scored in Kentucky’s win over EKU.
Just 12 minutes later, Hubly scored her first goal of the season, and logged her season-high third point of the night as she pushed a rebounded shot into an open net to give the Wildcats the 2-0 lead. The initial shot was sent in from Landis, who had it deflected by an MSU defender and the ball came out about 10 yards in front of the goal. Hubly then lifted the ball over the trouble and slotted it into the back of the net for the 2-0 lead.
Sophomore Cara Ledman scored her first goal of the season in the second half in the 58th minute. Ledman received an entry ball into the box from Kacie Kumar, who got the ball from the midfield and sent it into the attacking third for a waiting Ledman on the flank. Ledman then shot a rifle past the keeper into the right edge of the net for the goal. The goal for Ledman and assist for Kumar were both their first points on the season.
Keeper Kayla King had a magnificent night in the net for Kentucky, stopping two major MSU chances in each of the halves. In the first half, King punched out a ball that was destined for the net, and King leaped, reached and soared into the air to knock the ball out of the net.
“We gave up a lot of dangerous opportunities in this game,” Lipsitz said. “We are fortunate that Kayla King played the best game of her life tonight. She bailed us out quite a bit.”
In the second half, King also made a diving save to keep the game at 3-1 with just under 10 minutes to go in the game.
UK takes to the pitch next against Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET in Nashville. The game will be telecast live on Fox Sports South with Dave Baker and Katie Witham on the call. The game will also be available on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app.
For continuing coverage of UK women’s soccer, log on to UKathletics.com.
