The UK women’s soccer team started their regular season Friday night with a road game against Wisconsin. Not only was this the first game of the season, but it was the first game of the “Coach Carry” era, as the Cats promoted former assistant Ian Carry to head coach for the Cats.

The Cats fell to the Wisconsin Badgers 1-0 after a late goal scored in the 77th minute by Badgers forward Emily Borgmann.

Wisconsin is slated to finish sixth in the tough Big 10 conference full of teams that are no strangers to a competitive atmosphere, such as Rutgers, an NCAA Women’s College Cup semifinalist in 2015.

From the opening minute this game was a close one. In the first half, the Cats only attempted to shoot twice, while the Wisconsin Badgers only shot five times. This game was very much a defensive battle.

The biggest issue for the Cats in the game was that they just couldn’t seem to aim their shots at the net. In the five shots that UK attempted, only one was on goal and it was stopped. The Badgers constantly hounded the UK net in the second half, taking nine shots on goal in twelve attempts.

UK’s sophomore goalie, Evangeline Soucie, was the star of the show on the defensive end. Soucie ended the night with an impressive eight saves, but it wasn’t enough to withstand the constant attack by the Badgers.

Unfortunately, there were several crucial missed shots by the Cats that resulted in the first loss of the season, but the team is hopeful that their future under new head coach Carry is bright.

The Cats will be back in action on Sunday Aug. 20 at 3:30 p.m. at Valley Fields in Milwaukee against Marquette.