Simmonds Brace Fuels 4-1 Lady Vol Win At Kentucky

 
LEXINGTON, Ky. – UT got back in the win column on Sunday, defeating Kentucky 4-1 on the road.
 
Freshman Kameron Simmonds had a pair of goals, and redshirt-junior Jaida Thomas also put one in the net for Tennessee (6-3-1, 2-1 SEC), while UT got a fourth by way of a Kentucky own goal. Senior Lindsey Romig tallied two saves on the day.
 
Hannah Richardson was the lone goal-scorer for Kentucky (7-4-0, 0-3 SEC).
 
Tennessee kept the pressure on Kentucky’s defense in the opening minutes, going up 1-0 off an own goal in the 12^th minute.
 
The Lady Vols made it 2-0 in the 27^th minute when senior Claudia Dipasupil served a ball into the box and Thomas buried it in the back of the net from eight yards out.
 
Simmonds nearly added a third before the half with a low shot from 12 yards out in the 42^nd minute, but Kentucky’s keeper came up with a kicksave to keep the score at 2-0 through halftime.
 
The Lady Vols outshot the Wildcats 8-1 in the opening 20 minutes of the second half but couldn’t convert. Kentucky got a quality chance from 25 yards out in the 70^th minute, but Romig was there to collect the save.
 
Simmonds made it 3-0 in the 75^th minute, beating a Kentucky defender to get behind the back line and slotting a shot past the keeper into the far corner.
 
The Wildcats got on the board with 10 minutes remaining in the game when Richardson blasted a perfectly placed ball into the top left corner of the net from 22 yards out.
 
The Lady Vols scored their final goal of the match in the 85^th minute when sophomore Taylor Huff set Simmonds up for a shot off a header, and Simmonds put a left-footed shot on target.
 
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols will remain on the road, traveling to Ole Miss for an 8 p.m. ET match on Friday that will be streamed on SECN+.
 
NO. 2 IS NO. 2: With her goal in the 27^th minute at Kentucky, redshirt-junior Jaida Thomas claimed sole possession of No. 2 in Tennessee’s record book, passing Hannah Wilkinson with 34 career goals scored. She trails No. 1 Kylee Rossi by just nine goals. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS: Thomas has scored 34 goals in just 47 appearances as a Lady Vol to average .723 goals per game. That goals per game average is higher than No. 1 Kylee Rossi (.494) and No. 3 Hannah Wilkinson (.471) and is closest to that of No. 7 Bunny Shaw who scored 27 goals in 35 games for an average of .771 goals per game.