No. 23 Kentucky Casts Gaze Toward Sunday Matinee vs. Mizzou
LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 23 Kentucky (8-2-5, 2-2-4 SEC) sets its sights on the team’s final home match of the 2023 regular season as the Cats prepare to host Missouri (5-7-3, 1-6-1 SEC), Sunday at 1 p.m. from the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex. The match will air on SECN+.
Sunday will be fan appreciation day at the Bell. Those in attendance will have the chance to enter a raffle to win Beats Solo 3 Headphones.
With just two matches remaining in the regular season, Kentucky is fighting to secure its spot in the upcoming SEC Tournament. The Cats currently sit in a tie for seventh in the conference standings with 10 points. The top 10 teams in the league at the end of the regular season qualify for the tournament, with the top six receiving first round byes. Outside of the 2020 COVID season, when all 14 SEC schools were invited to the SEC Tournament, Kentucky has not qualified for the postseason event since 2015.
After a 13-match unbeaten streak to start the season, UK has dropped its last two contests with losses to Mississippi State and Georgia. The Wildcats were held scoreless in both of those matches, just the second and third times this year they have been shutout.
Missouri also enters on a two-match losing streak, coming up short against Vanderbilt and Tennessee. The Tigers lone SEC win this season came in their conference-opener, a 3-2 victory over Florida. Mizzou has allowed 26 goals this season, the most of any team in the SEC.
Sunday’s matchup features the top two goal scorers in the conference going head-to-head as Kentucky’s Jordyn Rhodes and Missouri’s Kylee Simmons take the pitch. Simmons leads the conference in both goals (11) and points (24), while Rhodes ranks second in both categories (nine goals, 21 points).
Kentucky trails the all-time series vs. Missouri, 3-9-2. The two sides drew last season in Columbia, 1-1, as Úlfa Úlfarsdóttir scored the lone goal for the Wildcats.
For the latest on UK Women’s Soccer, follow the Wildcats on X and Instagram at @UKWomensSoccer, on Facebook and on the web at UKathletics.com.
