UK defeats SIUE 4-2 in penalty shootout to move on in the NCAA Tournament
The UK team celebrates winning the game with freshman goalkeeper Taylor Braun (1) after the University of Kentucky vs. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville women’s soccer game at the Soccer Complex in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday, November 15, 2014. The game was the first round of the 2014 NCAA tournament and UK won 4-2 in overtime penalty kicks. Photo by Tessa Lighty
November 16, 2014
By Kevin Erpenbeck
After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, UK won its first round game of the NCAA Tournament over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 4-2 in penalty kicks.
The Cats had an 18-0 corner kick advantage over the Cougars, but couldn’t find a way to get through what UK head coach Jon Lipsitz called a “red wall of defense,” reference the jersey color of SIUE.
“They had a very clear game plan, executed it very well and made life very difficult for us,” Lipsitz said. “It’s exactly the test we needed. We played very poorly in the first half, but responded well in the second half. We got ourselves more than enough opportunities, but credit to (SIUE) for not letting any through.”
Freshman goalkeeper Taylor Braun was hardly pressured in the match as the Cougars only had four shots in 110 minutes, with just one of them coming after halftime. But the young goalie stepped up during the most nerve-racking situation in soccer, saving the final penalty kick to send her team on to the next round of the tournament.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘I just need to save one of these balls. I need to end this right here,'” Braun said. SIUE’s first penalty shot wend wide right of the net, giving UK the advantage during the entire shootout. “I just reacted, got a hand on it, and it felt great.”
Lipsitz chose to go with with best foot forward when the penalty shootout began, sending senior leader Arin Gilliland out to take the first shot. Gilliland’s dominant shooting foot hasn’t exactly been at its best, however, as she suffered a minor sprain in her right foot against Texas A&M during the SEC Championship game.
Pain or not, Gilliland knew what her plan was going to be at the end of overtime, and let Lipsitz know immediately.
“She looked right at me and said ‘I’m taking a PK.’ So I said ‘Okay, she’s taking a PK,'” Lipsitz said. “Gilly would never put the team in a disadvantage, so I trusted she could do it like she said.”
UK will move on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament to face Arizona State in Charlottesville, Va. The Cats will have the seed advantage over their opponent in the second round for the first time in program history.
