Dec. 19, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A year after leading the Wildcats in nearly every offensive statistical category, Arin Gilliland was named one of the third team members of TopDrawerSoccer.com’s Top XI players in the nation, it was announced on Thursday morning.
She becomes the second player in UK history to be named to the TopDrawerSoccer Best XI list all-time, joining Anne Ogundele (2006).
Gilliland collected 34 points, scored a career-high 12 goals, assisted on 10 goals, just one shy of the program record, set a new school record in shots with 100, scored three game-winning goals and was named first team All-Southeastern Conference
Named a team captain in the spring of 2012, the Lexington, Ky., native took the season by storm, serving as one of Kentucky’s three team leaders in the fall of 2013. Gilliland played over 1,800 minutes on the pitch for the Wildcats, rewriting the record books in a number of categories.
In August, she was named to the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Award (the award given to the best player in collegiate soccer) watch list, after a summer which saw Gilliland called into U.S. Women’s National Team camp two times, as well as spending a month training with the National Women’s Soccer League champion Portland Thorns alongside international stars Alex Morgan and Christine Sinclair.
Gilliland scored 12 goals in 2013, marking the most by a single player since Kim LaBelle in 1995. The 12 goals in a single season tied for the fourth most in a season on the UK record books. Her 10 assists tied former greats Kelsey Hunyadi unbH(2011) and Elizabeth Ramsey (2000) for third-most all-time. She currently sits as one of 11 players in the country this season with 10-plus goals and 10-plus assists.
Gilliland had hat tricks on two different occasions during the SEC season, as she did it twice in a three-game stretch, becoming the second player in UK annals to record a hat trick two times in the same season. Gilliland scored three times in Kentucky’s 4-1 win over Tennessee, while also clinching her second-career hat trick with three goals in the first half against Alabama.
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