UK women’s soccer rebounds from Missouri loss, defeats LSU
October 27, 2013
By Kevin Erpenbeck
After a 2-1 double-overtime home loss at the hands of the University of Missouri on Friday, UK women’s soccer bounced back with a 3-1 victory over Louisiana State University on Sunday.
Much like Friday’s game against Missouri, UK had to play catch-up after giving up the match’s first goal to LSU.
After a scoreless first half, LSU freshman midfielder Rebecca Pongetti scored in the 50th minute for the Tigers. It was Pongetti’s second goal of her career.
UK responded 13 minutes later with a goal from junior forward Arin Gilliland to tie the game at 1-1. Gilliland now leads the team in goals with 11 for the season.
In the 71st minute, the Cats took the lead with a set-piece goal off a free-kick. The ball was played into the box, where it was kicked into the crossbar and bounced back into the box. UK freshman forward Zoe Swift then fired a shot past LSU senior goalkeeper Megan Kinneman on the rebound for the lead-grabbing goal.
The goal was the eighth of the season for Swift. Freshman midfielder Kaitlin Miller was awarded the assist.
Less than two minutes later, UK scored another set-piece goal. This time, freshman midfielder Alex Carter put the ball past Kinneman off of a corner kick for the 3-1 lead.
Miller was again awarded the assist, marking her first two assists of the season.
UK head coach Jon Lipsitz, who said the Cats were “too soft” against Missouri, was impressed with his team’s physicality against LSU.
“I thought we had more physical presence today,” Lipsitz said. “When a game gets physical, you have to make a decision: Do you want to take it and let it interfere with your possession, or do you want to tackle harder and raise your level physically? We possessed the ball more today, and I was very proud of that.”
The Cats suffered two losses to their roster in the victory, however, as junior forward Stuart Pope went down with a possible knee injury early in the first half, and junior forward Emma Brown suffered a back injury in the second half.
Pope was on crutches at halftime, while Brown did not return to the match. Pope is second on the team for goals scored with 10 on the season.
UK (13-4-1, 7-3-0 SEC) will finish the regular season on the road on Thursday, taking on the University of South Carolina.
The SEC tournament will begin on Nov. 4 in Orange Beach, Ala. UK currently sits behind Texas A&M University (8-1-0 SEC) and the University of Florida (7-2-0) in the conference standings.
