Spring into Soccer: Kentucky Visits Pittsburgh for First Spring Contest
PITTSBURGH – For the first time on record, the University of Kentucky women’s soccer team will compete in an official spring game, traveling to Pittsburgh to meet Pitt on Monday, March 29 for a 2 p.m. ET first kick at Ambrose Urbanic Field. The contest will be carried on ACC Network Extra, with no talent on the call.
The Wildcats are coming off a unique fall season of competing in eight straight Southeastern Conference games, not including competing in the first round of the 2020 SEC Women’s Soccer Tournament to conclude the schedule. During that stretch, the program produced a 1-5-3 record, including a 0-3-1 record on the road.
Despite managing the unique schedule with an undermanned roster because of COVID-19, Kentucky concluded its campaign with a pair of its gutsiest performances of the fall. Kentucky defeated Florida in a 3-1 decision to end the regular season, and earning its first triumph of the regular season, aided by the scoring efforts of Jordyn Rhodes and Hannah Richardson and a strong backline, ahead of its first conference tournament appearance since 2014.
There, the Cats and the Gators would rematch just one week later in a contest that left the Cats encouraged for a spring season, despite losing in a 6-5 decision. Before that contest, the Wildcats’ had not scored as many as five goals since defeating Murray State in a 5-0 decision on September 11, 2016. Meanwhile, Rhodes earned the first hat-trick of her collegiate career, while Richardson and Úlfa Úlfarsdóttir added one apiece.
Just a sophomore, Rhodes put together a notable season that allowed her to be named an All-SEC First Team selection and a Mac Hermann Midseason Watch List candidate. The South Lebanon, Ohio, native concluded the fall season leading the conference in shots per game (3.78), goals (10), goals per game (1.11), points (21) and points per game (2.33), despite playing in as many as two fewer games than her foes because of their deeper run in the SEC Tournament. Rhodes also currently leads the nation with five penalty kicks, without missing one all fall.
Brooke Littman has done a sensational job in the net after recording 56 saves through nine games, leading the conference in saves at the end of the fall season. In fact, Littman led the conference in saves through the entire fall season, meanwhile she reset her career high in saves per game twice last fall, recording seven saves in the season opener at Vanderbilt and recording 11 saves in the home opener against then-No. 13 Arkansas. Littman has been instrumental in leading Kentucky’s backline, an athletic group that has included Caroline Trout, Marie Olesen, Peyton Rimko and Gretchen Mills for most of the season.
The contest marks the first-ever meeting between the two teams. The Panthers are 10-5 in 2020-21, while the matchup will serve as their regular-season finale.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s soccer program, follow?@UKWomensSoccer?on Twitter and on Instagram, on?Facebook?and on the web at?UKathletics.com.?
