Kentucky Travels West to Play Louisville on Friday Afternoon
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The biggest soccer match in the state of Kentucky takes center stage on Friday afternoon at Lynn Stadium in Louisville as the annual “Battle of the Bluegrass” features the Kentucky Wildcats against the Louisville Cardinals.
Kickoff for the annual derby match will be at 5:30 p.m. ET in the Derby City, and will be televised live on the ACC Network Extra, ESPN app and ESPN+.
The Wildcats and Cardinals are both out to fast starts on the 2018 season, with Louisville reaching the third weekend of the season undefeated at 4-0-0, and Kentucky 3-1-0 after a setback to Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon at The Bell.
Friday night marks the 17th all-time meeting between the two Kentucky schools, with the Wildcats leading the series 12-3-1 overall. Louisville took last year’s meeting in Lexington 3-1 over Kentucky on a very wet and rainy night at The Bell. The Cards raced out to a 3-0 lead before Tanya Samarzich pulled one back for the Wildcats late in the match to make it 3-1. The win for UL snapped a six-match winning streak for UK in the series that spanned from 2011- 2016.
Kentucky will be looking to move to 4-1-0 on the season with a win, which would be UK’s first 4-1-0 start since 2014 when UK made its historic run to the NCAA Sweet 16.
Yuuka Kurosaki and Hollie Olding lead the Kentucky offensive charge early on in the season, each scoring three goals through the opening four matches. Redshirt sophomore Marissa Bosco scored her first goal since 2016 on Thursday night in a 2-1 win over Morehead State, which was also her first goal since returning from an MCL injury in the spring of 2017.
Louisville is 4-0-0 on the season, coming off its biggest non-conference win at Michigan on Sunday afternoon in Ann Arbor, 3-1. The Cards have scored 14 goals this season and conceded just three times. Offensively, junior forward Brooklynn Rivers leads the Cards attack with three goals, one assist and a game-winning goal. Maisie Whitsett also has three goals and an assist with a pair of game-winners off of nine shots.
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.
