Kentucky Faces No. 8 South Carolina on Sunday in Columbia
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky women’s soccer team
will look to hand the No. 8 South Carolina Gamecocks their first loss of the season
as the Wildcats travel to the Palmetto State for a 2 p.m. ET match against USC
on Sunday afternoon.
The match will be shown live on the SEC
Network+, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
UK was shutout for just the second time all
season on Thursday night at Missouri, dropping a 2-0 decision to the Tigers on
the road. Kentucky has now gone two matches running without a win and sits at 0-2-1
in the Southeastern Conference, sitting on one point through three matches.
The Wildcats beat South Carolina 1-0 in the
teams’ last meeting – coming back in 2014 when Kentucky made the Sweet 16 in
Lexington. The Wildcats and Gamecocks did not meet in 2015 due to the SEC
scheduling grid.
South Carolina might be the hottest team in the
country entering Sunday’s match with the Wildcats, as the Gamecocks currently
sit 9-0-1 on the season overall and a perfect 3-0-0 in the SEC, perched atop
the league table on nine points with Arkansas.
The Gamecocks are slotted at No. 8 in the
NSCAA rankings and have one of the best defenses in the country, which will
pose a stern test for UK’s front line. USC beat LSU on Thursday night after being
equalized to make it 1-1 but would then score two quick goals to pull out
ahead.
Sunday afternoon’s match will be the 22nd
all-time meeting between USC and UK. The Wildcats lead the all-time series
13-7-1. The two sides did not meet in 2015. UK has won three of the last four
meetings with the Gamecocks and has gotten a result in four of the last five
matches against USC.
USC has won nine matches in a row and is led
in scoring by MAC Hermann Award finalist Savannah McCaskill, who has 10 goals
and four assists on the year for 24 points. She is by far SC’s most potent offensive
threat – and defensively, goalkeeper Mikayla Krzeczowski has a 0.55 GAA.
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.
