Women’s soccer, Arkansas finish in scoreless tie

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By Alex Mackey

In the 109th minute of a scoreless game, a header was put in the back of the goal that made it seem like the Arkansas Razorbacks had beaten UK in double overtime. But the luck of the UK women’s soccer team hadn’t run out and the referee waved the goal off since a Razorback was offsides.  The game ended in a 0-0 tie when no one could score in the last minute.

The Cats (4-6-4, 1-4-1 Southeastern Conference) tried to build momentum from their victory against No. 13 Louisiana State on Friday when they took on the Razorbacks (7-3-4, 1-3-2 SEC) at the UK Soccer Complex but again failed to get any offensive work done.

The field was still sloppy from Friday’s game, which slowed the pace of play.  The Cats had only 10 shots in 110 minutes of play, while the Razorbacks had 22.

“It was a typical Sunday battle against a team that had also got their first conference win Friday,” said assistant coach Michelle Rayner.

The Cats, coached by Rayner, played their second game without UK head coach Jon Lipsitz, who has been sick. He was spotted sitting in the stands alone, but left as soon as the game was over.

The offense of the Cats could never get anything going. UK had one good look all day while the rest of the shots didn’t have a realistic chance at scoring. The Cats looked strong defensively until the breakdown on the header in overtime.

“When you play more than 90 minutes, things like that will happen,” Rayner said.

Senior goalie Sydney Hiance said she was furious when the header first fell but once she saw that it was waved off she played the ball as fast as she could because she had limited time to get the ball back to her forwards.

The Cats are in danger of missing the SEC tournament if they don’t get their scoring production up. Even after this weekend, they remain tied for last in the SEC East with Vanderbilt.  The top four teams in the division make it to the SEC tournament.

The Cats have five games left in their SEC season. They have two away games in the SEC against Alabama and Auburn before returning home to play Ole Miss in their final home game of the 2009 season.

“We’re doing everything right, we really just need to finish,” Hiance said.