Late Marker Not Enough in Michigan Loss at Kentucky

Wednesday, September 17

Lexington, Ky.

7:00 PM

Michigan

4-2-1

Kentucky

4-2-0

Michigan

Kentucky

9/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Ryan Sosin, Jeremy Reid

Site: Lexington, Ky. (UK Soccer Complex)
Score: Kentucky 2, Michigan 1
Records: U-M (4-2-1), UK (4-2-0)
Next U-M Game: Friday, Sept. 19 -- at Detroit (Detroit, Mich.), 5 p.m.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The University of Michigan men's soccer team fell, 2-1, to Kentucky on Wednesday evening (Sept. 17) at the UK Soccer Complex. Senior Jake Stacy (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) scored in the 87th minute to pull U-M within one, but the Maize and Blue could not overcome the deficit before the clock reached zero.

Jake Stacy

Senior/junior goalkeeper Patrick Sperry (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) made four saves in the contest and junior/sophomore Cam Cameron (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline) picked up a helper on U-M's lone marker.

The two teams battled through a scoreless first half that saw only five shot attempts. The whistle-filled frame also saw 12 fouls called and five offside calls. Michigan's best chance came in the fourth minute when junior Mauro Fuzetti (Houston, Texas/Stratford) got his foot on a pass off a corner, but the Wildcats' goalkeeper was there to make the stop.

Kentucky broke the stalemate 10 minutes into the second half when Marco Dos Santos found the back of the net at 55:08 on a shot from the right corner of the box. The Wildcats followed with a second goal on a free kick to go up 2-0 when Barry Rice took the strike from 22 yards out into the top-left corner of the net.

The Wolverines got on the board at 86:28 to pull to within a 2-1 score. Stacy took a pass from Cameron on his way through the defense and let a shot go from 15 yards out. His shot careened off the post and into the back of the net.

U-M drew a corner kick in the last minute, but could not level the score before time expired.

Michigan will look to return to its winning ways on Friday (Sept. 19) at Detroit. Kickoff for the game is set for 5 p.m. in Detroit, Mich.

GAME SUMMARY

By Periods	1	2	F
Michigan	0	1	1
Kentucky	0	2	2

Scoring, Time (Assist)
2nd -- UK, Marco dos Santos, 55:08 (Sam Vernalls)
2nd -- UK, Barry Rice, 73:05 (Unassisted)
2nd -- U-M, Jake Stacy, 86:28 (Cam Cameron)

Shots: U-M 7, UK 10
Shots on Goal: U-M 2, UK 6
Saves: U-M 4 (Patrick Sperry), UK 1 (Dan Williams)
Corner Kicks: U-M 6, UK 5
Fouls: U-M 9, UK 15
Cards: UK, Rice, 49:33 (Yellow).

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On what would have leveled the game ... "It is about finding that killer instinct to put an opponent away when they are on their heels. On the road, you need to bring work ethic; you need to bring aggression, and you need to finish goals. We brought the work ethic and aggression, but we left the finishing part in Ann Arbor."

On the differences between the two halves ... "Coming off at half, we were clearly the team that was in control of the game. It was still 0-0, and that is dangerous on the road. We had to make sure to bring the aggression and the work ethic into the second half. We were looking to exploit the wide spaces, which was their weakness in the second half. But, college soccer is a funny game in that it does not always favor the team that plays better. Kentucky was able to find a ball that dropped in the box and put it in and then scored on free kick. That left us chasing the game. This is a team that is pretty good at chasing the lead, but you do not want to be doing that on the road."