Mizzou soccer hosted the red-hot Kentucky Wildcats in its SEC home opener on Friday. Kentucky entered with 31 goals on the season, third in the SEC. The Tigers held the Wildcats’ attack in check for long stretches but still fell 2-1 at Walton Stadium.
Kentucky scored on the first shot of the game. In the 11th minute, Michelle Moskau served in a free kick that Nadia Ramadan finished past Missouri keeper Riley Wilkerson. The Wildcats kept pressing after the goal, and Wilkerson made a save on Alexa Pino’s
shot in the 12th minute.
The two sides were level on fouls at five apiece through the first 45 minutes. Missouri went into the break without a shot on target.
The Tigers looked sharper out of the break. Freshman Rylie Morse produced Missouri’s first shot on goal in the 58th minute, forcing a save from Kentucky keeper Megan Holland. Missouri took four shots in each half, but the second-half shots were more dangerous, and two of them were on target.
Despite the added pressure, the equalizer didn’t come. Kentucky freshman Kyla Dawn doubled the Wildcats’ lead in the 75th minute on an unassisted goal, coming off an errant pass from Wilkerson.
“They capitalized on the two mistakes on our part, and we didn’t do enough to find the back of the net enough times to get the points tonight,” Golan said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to come out on the front foot and not wait for something to come against us before we put our foot on the gas.”
Lana Adams, the Tigers’ joint leading scorer, came off the bench in the first half and played 65 minutes. She had two of Missouri’s four first-half shots, part of a group of Tigers, including Yang and Morse, who finished with two shots each.
Morse then cut the deficit to one with two minutes left, curling a free kick over the wall from a dangerous spot for her first SEC goal. Golan said afterward that Morse’s poise on set pieces is why she gets those chances.
“She’s technically very proficient,” Golan said. “To put it up and over the wall like that on a set piece is fantastic, and she has the confidence to do that. We’re not going to pull her out of those moments when they come.”
Golan said Morse would have taken a penalty kick had the Tigers been awarded one late. Missouri appealed for a handball in the closing stretch, but the call on the field stood.
“Obviously I challenged it, so I thought it was one,” Golan said. “The referee, as he explained it to me, said it ricocheted from her foot to her hand, which he said negates it. If that’s the rule, and that’s his call, he’s the referee. I’m the coach. He makes the call that he makes.”
Morse’s PK attempt against Oklahoma earlier this season was saved, and Golan said her readiness to step up again “says a lot about who she is.”
Missouri’s defensive unit has seen some changes, with junior McKenna Moran moving from midfield to the back line over the past few matches.
That has given fellow defenders Morgan Meador and Mia Yang more freedom, and Yang used it to get forward and take the Tigers’ first shot in the 15th minute. Yang, who moved into a wider position, and Mia Devrouax served as outlets as Missouri built out through the wings.
That was by design. Golan said the Tigers had prepared for a Kentucky team that sat back rather than pressed.
“We didn’t actually think they pressed,” Golan said. “They sat back quite a bit, and they had certain triggers where, when the ball went into certain spaces, that’s where they came at us. So for us, we were actually preparing to have a lot of space in the wide areas, and that’s what we were trying to target: getting the ball there, get isolated, get service and try to get numbers into the box from there.”
Missouri finished with 15 fouls to Kentucky’s 14 — a testament to the physicality of the Wildcats and the Tigers’ ability to match it. The Tigers outshot the Wildcats 8-5, Kentucky had four shots on target to Missouri’s two.
With the loss, the Tigers are 0-2 in SEC play. They’ll look to find their footing when Auburn comes to Columbia on Sept. 24.
