Babo’s Brace Leads UK WSOC Past LSU in Dominating Showing at The Bell

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Photo courtesy UK Athletics
Junior forward Sophie Babo scored two goals – three minutes apart – as part of a dominating 3-0 win over the No. 11 team in the national RPI, the LSU Tigers, on Friday night at the Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington.
The Wildcats led every statistical category in the match outshooting LSU 13-6, and earned 10 corner kicks to the Tigers’ two. It was just the second time all season that LSU has lost a match, as the Tigers record falls to 7-2-2 overall.
Kentucky with the win picks up its first Southeastern Conference win under head coach Ian Carry. To show the progress that this team has made under Carry in a short amount of time – the Wildcats have already surpassed their win total from a season ago, just 13 matches into the current 2017 season.
“Tonight was a fantastic, complete performance by the team, and I couldn’t be more proud” Carry said. “Tonight’s endeavor from start to finish was the most dominating and complete against a well-coached and talented team like LSU. Although we are proud of the three points, it’s the performance that we take great pride in and gives us a benchmark for the season as we look to finish strong.”
UK with the win creeps to within just one match of the .500 mark and is now sitting on three points in the SEC standings – which puts the Wildcats above the Orange Beach cutoff for the present time.
The opening goal was scored in the 62nd minute by Gina Crosetti – who had been giving the Tigers problems along the left flank all evening. Foster Ignoffo, who had two assists on the night, got the ball and went endline and served it back across the face of goal where it was flicked on by freshman Miranda Jimenez and buried by Crosetti into the netting.
Just three minutes later, Babo scored the first of her two goals in the match on a clinical world-class finish at the top of the box into the far-side netting from 20 yards out. The ball was played in from Ignoffo who played the ball to Babo’s feet at the right spot where she could turn and face before firing.
Only two minutes after Babo doubled the Wildcats lead, she doubled her goal total with another picture-perfect finish into the far-side netting – with this goal coming from the pass off Miranda Jimenez. The freshman used her pace and dribbling ability to create space and then fired it to Babo, who took the perfect touch and finished.
The banged-up Wildcats will now take the week off to rest and recover before their next match on Thursday, Oct. 5 against the Vanderbilt Commodores at 7:30 p.m. ET from The Bell. The match will be shown live on the SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s soccer team, follow @UKWomensSoccer on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
‑ GO CATS –
For more information contact:
Chris Shoals