Kentucky women’s soccer (10-1-3) defeated LSU (7-6-1) by a score of 2-1 on Thursday night. 

The Cats’ offense started out hot as Makala Woods scored in the third minute to give the Cats a 1-0 lead. The early score was Woods’ team-leading seventh goal of the season. 

“Woods, Woods is different,” Head Coach Troy Fabiano said.

Later in the first half, LSU had a chance to tie with a penalty kick after a handball by Grace Hoytink. However, it was stopped by Kentucky goalkeeper Marz Josephson, keeping the Cats’ lead intact. 

The Cats had a chance to extend their lead in the 36th minute on a penalty kick attempt by Maddie Kemp, but it was stopped by LSU goalie Audur Scheving, keeping the score at 1-0.  

The Cats had another chance in the second half as Katherine Truitt almost scored off a corner kick in the 52nd minute, but yet another save by Scheving kept the score at 1-0. 

The Tigers tied it up in the 73rd minute as Ava Amsden scored on a penalty kick to even the score at 1-1. 

Moving to the 77th minute of the match, Sophia Mattice nearly regained the lead for the Cats, but just missed wide to the left. 

The tides turned back into the Cats’ favor when Alexis Tylenda knocked in a goal in the 85th minute to take the lead. The goal was assisted by Kemp and Grace Phillpotts. 

“Troy always says it’s supposed to slow down instead of speed up,” Tylenda said. “And that time it slowed down.”

Neither team found any more chances to score, which secured the 2-1 win for the Cats. 

The win marked back-to-back for the Wildcats and extended their unbeaten streak to four games.  

“I thought Tylenda was great,” Fabiano said. “Even besides scoring the goal, I thought Tylenda was very, very good all night.” 

The Cats will return to action on Sunday, Oct. 13, as they go on the road against Vanderbilt. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m. ET.