Soccer
Tim letcher
Good teams find a way to win when they are less than their best. That’s what happened to Kentucky on Saturday, as the Cats, although they didn’t play their best game, held on to beat Chattanooga 28-23 at Kroger Field.
British head coach Marc stops simply put it.
“You have to be good enough to win when you’re not at your best,†Stoops said. “You have to respect the game, and I talk about it every day, respect the game, respect – the game, this game we love, is all about preparation.”
Regarding this preparation, the British official was not satisfied with the way he had prepared his team.
“You could live with it if you do your best to prepare yourself,†Stoops said. “I’m not happy with myself on this and have to find a better way to motivate them.”
Kentucky took a 7-0 lead on Saturday only to see Chattanooga respond with their own touchdown on the next disc. Que Cats took a 14-7 lead in the second quarter and had a 14-10 advantage at the break.
From there, the Mocs scored two field goals to take a 16-14 lead before Kentucky had two touchdowns in under three minutes, to lead 28-16. The biggest of those scores, and the game that sealed the UK victory, was a 95-yard intercept return for a touchdown by Tyrell Ajian.
After accumulating more than 500 yards of total attacking in each of the first two games, Great Britain were held at 348 yards on Saturday. Still, the Cats made just enough plays to win, a sign of a good team.
Stoops saw a key difference in today’s game versus the first two games of the season.
“We made mistakes in every game, but they played extremely hard (the previous two),†said Stoops. “I don’t know. I have to watch the movie. I mean, it felt a little flat to me. I mean, when you start and give up a touchdown early and that’s just starting this aggravation.”
Stoops want his team to improve thanks to Saturday’s effort.
“You always have to learn. In wins and losses, you learn,†Stoops said. “You learn more about this team, about our situation, our current situation, where we are, what we are doing. You are still trying to grow and learn. If they could use that as a learning opportunity, so alright. I I can’t get into each of their heads. I am trying. I promise you that I work hard to motivate them and prepare them to leave and I have to try harder and find the right words and bring them to to respond. “
The result is the result – the Cats are 3-0 for the fourth time in five years. And winning games is what Kentucky is trying to do.
“You can never apologize for a win,†Stoops said. “I liked (the team) last week when we won and I like them this week.
“Obviously the best thing about it sitting here is we’re 3-0,†Stoops said. “But not very happy, I just have to be better in everything, starting with myself.”
But it’s better to learn and improve from a win than from a loss, and that’s where Kentucky is once again this week.