Kentucky women's soccer beats WVU in penalties, advances to NCAAT second round
A historic season for Kentucky women’s soccer is still alive.
The Wildcats needed every second and then some in Friday night’s NCAA Tournament win over West Virginia at The Bell in Lexington. Hosting as a No. 5 seed, Kentucky beat West Virginia 1-1 (4-2 penalties) and advances to the second round against No. 4 Notre Dame. It marked the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2014 when they made it to the Sweet 16.
Both of the regulation goals came in quick succession of each other, West Virginia’s Olivia Shertzer scoring first in the 52nd minute before Kentucky’s Maddie Kemp responded in the 54th minute. Sophia Mattice would score the game-winning penalty kick for the Wildcats to secure the win.
“It feels great,” head coach Troy Fabiano said. “I think you look to my left, meaning Marz (Josephson), and she hasn’t been busy most of the season and came up huge this night in PKs but in the flow of the game and we needed her tonight.”
In a game that went on for 110 minutes, West Virginia didn’t outshoot Kentucky (18-20), but the Mountaineers did have more shots on goal (8-4). It didn’t matter with Marzia Josephson protecting the Wildcats’ net though. The graduate student finished with seven saves on the night along with two more during the penalty shootout.
“I thought if Olivia Shertzer was the MVP, then so was (Kentucky’s) goalkeeper,” West Virginia head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “I thought she was fabulous.”
Josephson was nearly perfect, but West Virginia was able to sneak one by her early in the second half. Kentucky didn’t waste any time striking back though. A great free kick from Catherine DeRosa just outside of the box wiggled its way past a couple of WVU defenders before finding Kemp’s left foot for the equalizer.
Some massive saves from Josephson down the stretch kept the Mountaineers from taking the go-ahead lead as we went into extra time. Josephson shut down another would-be score attempt from WVU in the first overtime. Kentucky had a great opportunity to steal the win before the shootout, but DeRosa’s pass inside the box to the head of Mallory Glass went just right of the goal.
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The penalty shootout started off hot with both sides hitting their first attempt. Josephson would save the second attempt by WVU, but it was ruled she stepped off the line, allowing another chance for the Mountaineers. She would save the retake anyway as Kentucky scored on its second attempt. Both sides made the third attempt with UK’s sliding right underneath the keeper.
Josephson had one more huge save in her, shoving West Virginia’s fourth penalty attempt into the post. Mattice went on to calmly drill the game-winner for the ‘Cats as she was immediately flooded by her teammates in celebration.
“The biggest thing I will say is, I sat in here a couple days ago and asked BBN to come out, and boy they did come out tonight, so thank you for the support – it meant a lot for us all year and especially this game,” Fabiano said. “Excited to move on.”
Kentucky’s (11-4-5; 3-3-4 SEC) second-round matchup will come next week against Notre Dame, which beat Milwaukee 5-1 in its first-round match. The host site, date, and time are still to be announced. For a look at the full NCAA Tournament bracket, click here.
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