Women’s Soccer Opens 2018 UK Athletics Calendar Year vs. SIUE
LEXINGTON, Kentucky. – The University of Kentucky women’s soccer team will open the 2018 UK athletics season with a home match against Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET from the Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington.
Live stats for the match will be available on UKathletics.com throughout the match. The season opener will be broadcasted on SEC Network+ or on the ESPN app with Dave Baker (pxp) and former UK All-American, Stuart Pope (color) on the call from The Bell.
Tickets to the match can be purchased online through the UK Ticket Office, or at the gate.
This will mark the second year with Ian Carry as head coach for the Wildcats as they look to take more steps towards improvement based off the building blocks set in 2017. The Wildcats won eight matches in Carry’s first season, three more than the previous year. UK also won three conference matches in 2017, the most since 2015.
Three returning players have already received notoriety for their skillsets as redshirt senior, Tanya Samarzich, junior Gina Crosetti and redshirt sophomore Marissa Bosco were all named to the 2018 Southeastern Conference Preseason Watch List on Wednesday afternoon by the league coaches.
The Wildcats will also return their top four goals scorers from 2017. Sophomore Miranda Jimenez, uunior Foster Ignoffo, sophomore Eva Mitchell and Samarzich were all in the top four of goals scored in 2017 for UK and are all back for the 2018 season.
Samarzich and Bosco will highlight UK’s attack after both sat for long periods of time last season. Samarzich tore her ACL against Florida State just six matches into the season, and was forced to redshirt the rest of the year. The Mexican national teamer was UK’s leading goal scorer at the time of her ACL tear.
Bosco, on the other hand, missed all of last season after tearing her MCL in the spring training with her club team. Bosco was named captain last year anyways after proving her ability in her freshman campaign. Bosco scored three goals and recorded five assists as a freshman.
The midfield will also be a strength for UK this season, as Crosetti, Jimenez and Yuuka Kurosaki return along with an influx of talent in the freshman class. Crosetti is known for her work ethic, and was rewarded when she recorded her first goal of the season against LSU which would go on to be the game winner. Jimenez returns as the Wildcat’s leading goal scorer in 2017. The Californian scored four goals in her freshman campaign to go along with three assists.
Goalkeepers Tamaki Machi, Hannah Leonard and Payton Woodward headlines an impressive freshman class that will contribute right away for UK. Machi has played for the Japanese National Team at the U-17 Women’s World Cup and is one of the most athletic goalkeepers in the class of 2018. Leonard was a standout for her club team in Tennessee, and Woodward continues the traditional Virginia recruiting pipeline for the Wildcats as one of the most athletic players in this year’s class.
This will be the first home match to open the season for UK since 2015 when the Wildcats defeated Washington, 1-0. UK has lost just one home opener since 2009. Last year, the Wildcats started the season off with a road trip in Wisconsin. UK won its home opener in 2017, beating Eastern Kentucky in the home opener 3-1 as Carry recorded his first win as head coach.
Kentucky has played SIUE once before in program history. In the 2014 NCAA Tournament’s opening round, the Wildcats defeated the Cougars with a 4-2 penalty kick shootout win after the first 110 minutes resulted in a 0-0 scoreline. UK outshot SIUE 29-1 in the game, and had 11 corner kicks to SIUE’s none but were unable to score in regulation. UK would advance to the Sweet 16, the best finish in program history, after defeating Arizona State 3-1 in the second round.
Match Day 1 – vs. SIUE
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/ukentucky/wsoc/
Live Video: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3422220/southern-illinoisedwardsville-vs-kentucky-w-soccer
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
