Woods' Outstanding Season Propelling Cats Toward Postseason
Kentucky soccer standout Makala Woods is having an outstanding season for the Cats in 2024. And it might have never happened if not for a position change a couple of years ago.
Woods, who transferred to Kentucky from Illinois, was asked by her coaches with the Illini to move from defense to playing forward. It wasn’t something that was natural for her, but she made the move and it has certainly proved to be beneficial.
“I was a defender in high school and didn’t become a forward until my sophomore year of college,” Woods said. “It was my coach’s decision and she felt that me being a forward let me have a little bit of pressure off of me. As a forward, you can make a lot more mistakes than a defender. It let me play freely and honestly, it worked out.”
Has it ever. Woods scored three goals as a junior at Illinois and another three during her senior year. However, she has really blossomed this season, scoring 11 goals for the Cats. Woods believes a couple of particular things have led to her breakout season.
“I think the change of environment. I think also, being in two different conferences, Big Ten and SEC are two completely different styles of play and I think my play has matched the SEC a little bit better,” Woods said. “In the SEC, everyone is strong, everyone is fast, everyone is big. It’s a hard conference. I’ve never experienced competition like this. The physicality is the biggest thing.”
Woods also credits her teammates, who have enabled her to have such a big final season as a collegiate player.
“I think forwards are just the end product of the team’s work and this team works so hard,” Woods said. “When you see a team work that hard, you want to make sure they get the end result they deserve.”
The hard work that this team has put in has produced an 11-3-4 record, the most wins for the UK program since 2014. Woods believes that the team’s hard work all fall is paying off.
“It’s always really exciting to be part of a group like this,” she said. “We have worked so hard and we deserve what we have gotten. It’s just really cool to see the fruit of your labor and have all of this success.”
Now, the Cats are preparing to play in the SEC Tournament in Pensacola, Florida. After that, the Cats should earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Woods is looking forward to the first postseason appearance in her career.
“I’m really excited. It’s going to be so much fun,” she said. “I’ve never had a postseason, so this will be my first and I couldn’t think of a better way to wrap up my college career than to play in the postseason with some of my favorite people.”
With Woods leading the offensive attack, the Cats have risen to new heights in 2024, with possibly more memorable moments to come in the postseason.
