By Connor Link, UK AthleticsWhen the Kentucky took the field Friday night, the Wildcats weren’t thinking about the heartbreak they felt last week in back-to-back overtime losses to Pepperdine and Arkansas. All that mattered now was bouncing back and taking care of business. The Cats were intently focused on the one thing head coach Jon Lipsitz preached to his team all week in practice.”We’ve just sort of gone back to the basics, talking about details,” Lipsitz said.Lipsitz’s team took the message to heart, evidenced by a 3-0 victory over conference foe Mississippi State at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex. For Kentucky senior Arin Gilliland, straying away from the basics was exactly what caused the Wildcats to go winless in their previous two matches in spite of mostly solid play in both..”We’re keeping people hanging in the game, we’re not doing the details, we’re not getting there pressing the ball, and we’re not finishing goals that we should be finishing,” Gilliland said. “Those are details–those are little things. Today, we came out, we did the basics. To play soccer, you have to do the basics first, and soccer will come. We did that today. (Lipsitz) was right, once again.”Once Gilliland and her teammates implemented Lipsitz’s game plan, results quickly followed. Gilliland, a Lexington native, scored her fifth goal of the season off of a perfectly placed cross by Cara Ledman at the match’s 52-minute mark.”It was a great cross by Cara Ledman,” Gilliland said. “Every time she crosses the ball, I know exactly where it’s going. So, I got to position myself perfectly. That finishing is what we did all week. I did the basics. I stayed over the ball, finished through the goal, and results happened.”After controlling possession for the majority of Friday’s game, Kentucky was able to stay composed on the way to its sixth win of the season. Wildcat junior Courtney Raetzman, who scored two of UK’s three goals, echoed Lipsitz’s back-to-basics mantra.”What we really focus on is details and doing little things that a lot of other teams don’t focus on as much,” Raetzman said. “Going back to the basics, we need to keep that simple, and not try to do all these fancy things–like trying to get that game-winning pass or that amazing shot off. More like, we need to play and do the basics. From that, great things will happen.”The Wildcats (6-3-0, 1-1-0 SEC) hope to carry their momentum into Sunday’s annual Kick Cancer Match with the Tigers of Auburn University.”(Auburn is) a great team–very dynamic, very exciting, and very athletic,” Lipsitz said. “They’re young… and doing great. I’m not surprised that Coach (Karen) Hoppa has them playing well. It’ll be a fantastic game, a great challenge and a great event. Obviously, it’s a fundraiser for us (to raise money) for pediatric cancer research. We need all of Big Blue Nation here–number one, for a great cause, and as a secondary reason, to root us on.”