Makala Woods Hat-Trick Sees Women’s Soccer Topple Tennessee 4-0
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky women’s soccer (11-3-4, 3-3-4) wrapped up the 2024 regular season on Sunday at the Bell Soccer Complex with a 4-0 victory over rival Tennessee (7-5-4, 2-4-3). A career-first hat trick for scoring leader Makala Woods and an opening goal from Sophia Mattice saw the Wildcats take down the Volunteers 4-0. Additionally, head coach Troy Fabiano picked up his 350th career victory as a head coach since his start in 1997 with UW-Parkside.
The win is significant in the record books. It marks only the second time in program history the Wildcats have finished the regular season with an undefeated record at home (9-0-3) – the first time since 2011 when the team went 6-0-0. It’s also the first time the program has reached 11 wins since the program had 16 in 2014.
Kentucky hit the ground running with a goal from Sophia Mattice in the sixth minute from a goal-line scramble off a corner kick. Grace Phillpotts whipped a ball very close to the goalkeeper that was bobbled around by bodies on the goal line before falling to Mattice, who put it into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
From there on, it was the Makala Woods show as she scored her first career hat trick with goals in the 20th, 40th, and 57th minutes. Woods is the eighth player in program history to score a hat-trick for the Wildcats and solidified an important win for the Wildcats in the Southeastern Conference standings.
Where Kentucky finishes in the SEC table is dependent on the remainder of results from today but the Wildcats did qualify for their 24th appearance in the SEC tournament in Pensacola, Florida, and their second-straight appearance since 2023. Kentucky’s seed, opponent, and game information will be released at a later date and time once confirmed by the conference office.
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