Missouri’s SEC home opener had all the ingredients of a tense league-night battle, but Kentucky made the bigger plays and left Audrey J. Walton Stadium with a 2-1 win Friday night.
The Tigers were active enough to create chances and even finished with an 8-5 edge in shots, but the Wildcats turned two Missouri mistakes into goals and made that early lead stand up in a match that got choppy in a hurry. The game featured 30 fouls and three yellow cards.
“At the end of the day, Kentucky capitalized off of two mistakes on our part and we didn’t do enough to find the back of the net enough times to comes away with a result,” head coach Stefanie Golan said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to come out on the front foot and not wait for something to come our way before putting our foot on the gas.”
Kentucky struck first in the 11th minute and took that 1-0 advantage into halftime. Missouri tried to turn the pressure up after the break, and freshman Rylie Morse gave the Tigers a look in the 59th minute when she forced a save from the Kentucky goalkeeper.
The Wildcats answered with another goal in the 76th minute, stretching the margin to 2-0 and putting Missouri in a deeper hole. The Tigers still had some life late, though, and Morse cut the deficit in the 88th minute with a free kick from outside the box that curled into the bottom-right corner for her third goal of the season.
Missouri nearly found an equalizer in the 90th minute after a ball played toward goal appeared to hit a Kentucky defender in front of the net. The Tigers appealed for a handball in the box, but the no-call stood after video review, and Kentucky closed out the result.
Missouri returns home to face Auburn at Audrey J. Walton Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 6 p.m. The match will have a “Pups on the Pitch” theme and will air live on SEC Network.
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