Women’s soccer drops first game of season

By David Schuh

The UK women’s soccer team lost to Dayton 2-1 Saturday, its first loss of the young season.

Looking to extend a program-best 7-0-0 start, the Cats ran into a Flyer team ranked 24th in the nation.

“Dayton played very well,” UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said.  “But, at the same time, we can’t go on the road against a ranked team and give it away.  Our style is to run and to play fast.  And unfortunately, we came out lacking that pace.”

Dayton virtually dominated possession in the first half.  They had several scoring opportunities before connecting on a 31st minute header off a corner kick.  UK was then called for handball in the box five minutes into the second half that led to a successful Flyer penalty kick.

That second half proved to be a more productive one for UK, where they outshot Dayton 10-4.  It was the first half, however, that dug the Cats a hole they couldn’t get out of.

“We got away from focusing on the details and struggled to execute.” junior Kelsey Hunyadi said.  We came out slow and it showed offensively throughout the first half.  There’s no excuse for that.”

UK was held scoreless until the 85th minute when Dayton committed a handball in the box that led to a made penalty kick by Hunyadi.  But, a frantic rush for a tying goal went for naught as Dayton held on for the 2-1 victory.

“Sometimes stats don’t tell the true story, but Saturday they did,” Lipsitz said.  “They controlled the first and we controlled the second.  We were much more dynamic up front in the second half and generated a lot of chances.  We had a few golden opportunities to tie the game in the final minutes, but when you don’t convert those you don’t deserve to win.”

UK returns to the field this Friday when they travel Auburn.  Game time is set for 8:30 p.m.