Oct. 10, 2014
Final Stats | Printable Box Score 
LEXINGTON, Ky. – South Carolina (9-4-1, 2-3-1 SEC) posted its first road loss of the season, dropping a 1-0 decision at Kentucky (8-5-0, 3-3-0 SEC) in conference play at the Bell Soccer Complex on a cool, rainy Friday night.
In the eighth minute, the Gamecocks had the first shots of the match. Lindsey Lane and Stevi Parker had two quick shots blocked. Parker sent one back towards goal on the rebound, but it sailed high and wide of the net.
The Gamecocks did not allow the Wildcats much in the first half; Kentucky’s best chance came when Emma Brown crossed the ball through the 18 to Jade Klump in the 38th minute. Klump sent a shot towards goal, but South Carolina keeper Sabrina D’Angelo denied her, collecting her second save of the night.
On South Carolina’s fourth corner kick of the match, Daija Griffin headed Chelsea Drennan’s serve on goal, but Kentucky’s Michaela Dooley made a play in the net for a team save in the 40th minute.
On a counterattack in the 59th minute, Paige Bendell and Savannah McCaskill set up Sophie Groff, but Kentucky keeper Taylor Braun punched Groff’s chance over the frame.
Kentucky took a 1-0 lead in the 66th. Cara Ledman served a ball into the box across the endline. D’Angelo dove to stop the cross, but the keeper couldn’t get her hands on it, and a streaking Courtney Raetzman finished the play with one touch.
A Wildcat yellow card with seven seconds on the clock gave South Carolina one last look, but no one could connect with the long free kick from D’Angelo and Raetzman’s goal stood up as the game-winner.
GAMECHANGER
Courtney Raetzman ran on an endline cross from Cara Ledman in the 59th minute. The Wildcat one-touched the ball in past a diving Sabrina D’Angelo who was trying to cut the cross off. The score stood up as the game-winner.
KEY STAT After the Gamecocks held Kentucky to just two shots in the first half, the Wildcats posted eight in the second half. South Carolina, who recorded eight shots in the first period, fired just two, both on goal, in the second.
NOTABLES
- Tonight’s decision is the Gamecocks’ first road loss of the season (3-1-1).
- All four of South Carolina’s losses this year have been 0-1 results.
- The Gamecocks have allowed just six goals all season and have not allowed more than one score in any match.
- Kentucky was without its sixth-year head coach Jon Lipsitz in tonight’s match as he served a one-game suspension after receiving a red card in the 90th minute in a 2-1 loss at Texas A&M on Sunday.
UP NEXT The Gamecocks take on No. 5 Florida at home on Thurs., Oct. 16. The 7 p.m. match is set for a national broadcast on the SEC Network.
