Nov. 21, 2013
LOS ANGELES – The University of Kentucky women’s soccer team will be in search of the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance on Friday night, as the Wildcats will be facing off against No. 2/2 UCLA at Drake Stadium on the campus of UCLA at 10:30 p.m. ET in Los Angeles, Calif.
The Wildcats won the program’s second-ever NCAA Tournament match a week ago, beating Ohio State 3-1 at the UK Soccer Complex to pick up the first-round win for the second-straight season. Kentucky got goals from Caitlin Landis, Arin Gilliland and Zoe Swift as well as a five-save performance from senior Kayla King in goal to claim the win.
Kentucky has never advanced to the Sweet 16 in program history and will have its second opportunity in as many seasons on Friday night in Los Angeles. The Wildcats were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the second round a year ago, as the UCLA Bruins took down Kentucky at the SportsDeck in San Diego, Calif. Last year’s tilt was the only meeting between the two sides in history.
UK is led offensively by Gilliland, who was recently named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Team of the Week after collecting three points in Friday’s win over Ohio State, including scoring the game-winning goal, her team-high 12th of the season. Gilliland is a MAC Hermann Award finalist and has moved up to fourth all-time at Kentucky for career points, as the junior from Lexington, Ky., now sits on 75 career points. Gilliland has scored 12 goals this season, including five game-winning goals.
UCLA enters the weekend at 18-1-2 overall on the season, only dropping one game all season long, to the North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Bruins went undefeated, at 9-0-2 in PAC-12 conference play, and were crowned champions. UCLA defeated San Diego State 3-0 in the opening round to advance to the second round.
The winner of the Kentucky/UCLA match will face off in the Sweet 16 against the winner of the other regional semifinal, South Carolina and Stanford. The Gamecocks and Cardinal will tangle at 8 p.m. ET at Drake Stadium. The regional final will be at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles.
For continuing coverage of UK women’s soccer, and updated NCAA Tournament information, log on to UKathletics.com.
