Kentucky womens soccer (7-7-2) fought to a 1-1 draw against Missouri (5-7-3) in Columbia on Thursday night, remaining winless in SEC play.

With the match being a must-win for both – teams with Kentucky starting the night bottom of the SEC standings and the Tigers starting the night as the 10th seed – things started out very slow with limited chances for both sides.

Kentucky went into the night knowing that with a loss would likely mean it would be eliminated from SEC Tournament contention, leading the Wildcats to score first with three minutes left to play in the first half after Ulfa Ulfarsdottir was brought down in the box Megan Oduyoye, going on to convert the penalty passed Bella Hollenbach in goal for the Tigers.

After scoring Kentucky would take a more defensive approach to the match, keeping all 11 Wildcats behind the ball anytime Missouri won possession. This tactic created difficulties for the Tigers, who found it hard to create any threatening opportunities in front of goal.

Missouri, however, still came close to equalizing in the 72’ after Kylie Dobbs gave the ball to Jenna Bartels, who fired a shot from the top of the box that narrowly glided over the crossbar.

Following the near miss, the Tigers were able to bring the game back even anyway in the 81’ after a ball played over the top from Rachel Kutella at the Kentucky back line caused confusion for Maggy Henschler and Peyton Rimko, who collided into each other and allowed Dobbs a clear path to goal. She capitalized on the opportunity and finished the ball past Tallulah Miller to make the score 1-1.

After the equalizer, both teams fought for a match-winning goal, but neither side was able to find the difference maker.

Despite having two results in a row, Kentucky remains winless in SEC play so far this season. 

Even more alarming for the Cats, the draw marks the 24th straight match, dating back over four seasons ago, since Kentucky last won on the road in the conference play, with the last victory on the road being a 3-0 win at Georgia in October 2017.

That said, with the draw resulting in a point for UK, the Cats’ dreams of playing in the SEC Tournament remain intact. Unfortunately, with only two games left on the schedule, the Wildcats need, not only to win both games, but also help from around the conference in order to play in Pensacola and compete for a SEC championship.

The Wildcats return to Lexington to take on Georgia on Sunday, Oct. 23, with kickoff at the Bell scheduled for 1 p.m. EST and streaming live on the SEC Network+.