Second Half Surge Powers Kentucky to Shutout Win over Murray
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After a lackluster first 45,
which featured only six combined shots and one on goal in the first half, the
Kentucky women’s soccer team opened the flood gates in the second half, scoring
four goals all within 11 minutes of each other en route to a 5-0 blanking of
the Murray State Racers on Sunday night at the Bell Soccer Complex.
“You learn a lot about your team by how they
respond,” UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said. “I got on them pretty hard in the
locker room at halftime, probably harder than I have all season, and the
players came out and played a fantastic second half. I thought we got back to focusing
on us in the second half and took care of the small details that won us the
game. I’m proud of our effort in the second half and the way we played. Now we
will focus on sustaining that for a full 90-minute match.”
Kentucky (3-3-1, 0-1-0 SEC) had four different
goal scorers in the match, with Kaitlin Miller scoring the match’s opening goal
on 37 minutes – and then Tanya Samarzich (58’), Gina Crosetti (61’) and Zoe
Swift (63’) all scoring in addition to an own goal by the Racers in the second
half.
Murray State drops to 1-3-1 with Sunday’s
result.
The opening goal of the match came in the 37th
minute as Miller scored her second goal of the season off a corner kick that
was headed in off service from Katy Keen. It was Keen’s first assist of the
season. Miller arose off the MSU defenders and headed it past the keeper to her
right for the goal.
After the halftime whistle blew, Kentucky
picked up a 2-0 lead when a Samarzich low, driven ball with pace was brought
into the area that deflected off a MSU defender for the own goal. Zoe Swift
shielded the defender and the keeper, but did not get a touch on the ball in
the area.
It would be 3-0 just six minutes later as
Samarzich netted her team-leading fourth goal of the season off another
long-range free kick. The ball was served into the area from 40 yards out by
Keen, and freshman Foster Ignoffo – a finalist for Woman of the Match – shot it
and it was well saved by Murray keeper Alex Steigerwald, before the rebound
came out to Samarzich – who finished.
The fourth Kentucky goal came less than three
minutes after as the Wildcats would make it 4-0 in the 61st minute on a gem from
freshman Gina Crosetti, her second of the season. Crosetti got the ball at her
feet off a perfect feed from Bosco, and then Crosetti did all the rest, cutting
back a wide back and turning and facing goal and looping one over the keeper
far-post for the strong finish from 15 yards out from the left side.
The fifth UK goal came off the head of Zoe
Swift on 63 minutes in the match as Bosco served in another spectacular ball to
the head of a slashing Swift to the post, and the combination was finished to
make it 5-0.
Ayanna Parker got her first action this season
in net, playing 11 minutes and making a fantastic save to preserve the clean
sheet. Starting keeper Evangeline Soucie earned her second clean sheet of the
season and made two saves in the 78 minutes she was in the match.
Kentucky also had 10 corner kicks in the
match, five goals, five different players record an assist, and held the Racers
without a shot for the entire first half.
The Wildcats will play a rare Wednesday night
match on the 14th at 7:30 p.m. ET against the SEMO RedHawks this week before
returning to Southeastern Conference play on Sunday vs. Alabama. Both matches
will be at the Bell Soccer Complex and shown live on the SEC Network+, ESPN3
and the WatchESPN app.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s soccer team, follow @UKWomensSoccer on Twitter,
Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
**Scoring decision updates** – After reviewing match film, there were three scoring changes. The second UK goal will be credited to Tanya Samarzich citing NCAA rule 10.4.2 in the rulebook. In addition, there was an addition to Kaitlin Miller assisting UK’s fourth goal, and Alex Carter assisting UK’s third goal.
