Coming into Friday night’s game, the UK Women’s Soccer team (6-8-2, 1-6-0 SEC) was coming off of an eight-game losing streak and the visitng Missouri Tigers (7-7-1, 1-5-1) were looking to start a winning streak. But the Cats came out on top with a 2-1 win over the Tigers at The Bell on Friday night to snap the losing streak and stay in the SEC Tournament hunt. 

On Friday, both teams came out aggressive in the first half. Kentucky attempted eight shots while Missouri attempted seven. Kentucky goalkeeper Steph Stull had a solid showing in the first half with four saves. Missouri goalie Gillian Schulte ended the first half with just three. The game livened up when Cats’ forward Marissa Bosco scored her second goal of the year off an assist from Valdis Bjorg Sigurbjornsdottir in the 29th minute, giving the Cats a slight energy boost going into the halftime. 

Kentucky Head Coach Ian Carry stated after the game that the team knew at halftime, they “needed to score another goal”.

Bosco increased the lead early in the second half with a goal off of a missed penalty kick by teammate Hannah Richardson in the 51st minute. Later in the half, Missouri forward Sarah Luebbert attempted two shots on goal but couldn’t finish either. The Tigers answered back with a goal scored by forward Julissa Cisneros in the 64th minute.

She was assisted by Grace Kitts off a penalty kick. Kitts kicked the ball just enough to consider her kick a miss and Cisneros executed. They successfully performed a trick play that left even the referees a bit confused.

Despite the momentum, the Tigers went scoreless for the rest of the game and fell short to the Cats. Both Carry and Bosco said they were “elated” about how the team fought back.

Coach Carry acknowledged that the team knew they were going to face a moment of pressure but “weathered the storm”. He says he believed the victory came from being able to “dig deep” and “was proud of the group of young ladies.”

Bosco says she was happy to see her team come out right away, go up first and stay up throughout the course of the game. She said after the game that the team “showed their grit and got a reward for it.”

The milestone win marks the first time Kentucky has ever beat Missouri in SEC play. That could provide a surge of confidence about going up against the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia next Thursday night at 7 p.m.