Williams Goal Gives UK Soccer Another 1-0 Friday Win
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Junior captain JJ Williams’ 58th-minute goal was the difference in a second-consecutive 1-0 win for the Kentucky Men’s Soccer Team this time coming Friday against Columbia at The Bell.
The victory improved Kentucky’s 2018 win-loss-draw record to 2-0-0, marking the fourth year in a row the Wildcats have started with such a run.
The Wildcats will be riding high now off Friday’s quality result over a Columbia side that returned nine starters from a squad that reached the 2017 NCAA Tournament Second Round.
The Wildcats will next host No. 9 Louisville at The Bell on Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 7:30 p.m. ET with the match to be broadcast on SEC Network+/WatchESPN.
Sophomore goalkeeper Enrique Facusse gritted out a second clean sheet on the trot as the reigning Conference USA Golden Glove Award winner now has nine career shutouts from 20 starts.
Facusse had to make two saves playing behind an experienced, but mostly young, back line of (from left to right)sophomore co-captain Keyarash Namjoupanah, sophomore Leon Jones, sophomore Aimé Mabika – who was making his seson debut – and senior Tanner Hummel.
The goal
Williams’ breakthrough came just before the hour mark, with neither side having looked particularly likely to score in the preceding game action.
Nonetheless, it was a pair of European freshmen to start the move.
Marcel Meinzer sprung Nicolai Fremstad into acres of space along the left. Fremstad hit a left-footed cross that travelled a long way, just beyond the reach of an onrushing Wildcat plus three Columbia defenders, eventually finding Williams at the far post. There, the Montgomery, Alabama native hit it with his right foot on the half volley and into the roof of the net.
“The ball got slid down to Nicolai on the wing,” Williams said. “Instead of taking somebody on he saw me back side and played a good ball in. There wasn’t much they could’ve done about that.
“My team put me in a really good spot to be successful tonight. All the chances they gave me I have to finish. From the back-line to the front-four that’s just them putting me in a good spot.”
Williams scored his team-best seventh career goal, while Fremstad assisted for the first time as a Wildcat. Williams is now tied with Kalil ElMedkhar as the only two UK players to score so far this season.
Williams troubled the Columbia defense all night, firing six shots over 90 minutes, three of them on goal.
The Wildcats out-shot Columbia 9-4, with three UK efforts requiring goalkeeper intervention.
The quote
“I’m really happy,” head coach Johan Cedergren said. “I thought Columbia is a very good team. Twenty-five wins the last two years, 20 clean sheets. They made the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year. I think there was nine returning players from that team that started so we knew it was going to be a battle.
“Guys worked really hard. We want to be more attacking. We want to be more dynamic in the final third – create chances, which we did. We would just love to put some of those away. A couple of the guys were disappointed afterward because I think we could’ve made it easier for ourselves if we put one away in the first half, or in one of the late chances that we had. In general very tough opponent so it was always going to be a difficult game, but I think our guys showed the quality we have.”
The setup
Columbia was making its 2018 debut a week after Kentucky opened up its campaign.
Cedergren made one change from the starting lineup that went on to defeat DePaul 1-0 a week before. A freshly fit Mabika came into the center of defense, shifting Namjoupanah to left back, while freshman Cole Guindon moved to the bench.
Last season’s Ivy League runner-up arrived in Lexington returning eight seniors from the 2017 season when the Lions finished with a record of 12-3-3 (5-1-1 Ivy League) and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, reaching the second round.
The history
The two sides had never played a competitive match before.
Kentucky is now 1-1-1 all-time in games against Ivy League competition.
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