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Sept. 11, 2009

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

AUSTIN, Texas -- Junior Niki Arlitt had a foot in both of The University of Texas' two goals Friday night to lead the UT soccer team past Louisville, 2-1 at Mike A. Myers Stadium. Arlitt netted her first goal of the year and assisted sophomore Leah Payne's gamewinner to move Texas to 2-3-0 on the season.

In the first half, Arlitt put UT up 1-0 after she hooked in one of her own corner kicks in the 26th minute. The junior's kick curved into the net from the left corner past the hands of Louisville's Taylor Vanci for her first goal of the season. Texas held a 9-1 advantage in corner kicks in the first half and had seven free kicks from Louisville fouls.

The Cardinals evened the score just four minutes into the second half when Jennifer Jones fired the ball from over 25 yards out on the right side of the field. The ball flew just over the outreached hands of UT keeper Alexa Gaul to tie the match at 1-1.

Texas didn't wait long to respond as Payne found the back of the net just one minute later for her first career goal. Arlitt got the play started when she lobbed a free kick into the middle of the box. Payne charged into the six-yard area and after her first attempt was blocked by Vanci, got her foot on the rebound to slip it past the keeper for the gamewinner.

With Arlitt and Payne picking up their first goals of the year, seven different Longhorns have now scored for a total of eight goals.

Texas returns to the pitch at Noon on Sunday, Sept. 13 to face Kentucky at Myers Field.

Junior forward Niki Arlitt
On her goal being a cross or shot: I'm going to say it was a shot. Never say that it wasn't a shot. It was a shot. I've never scored from the corner in college, in club yes but not in college. Honestly, this is the first game that I have taken corners. We've been working on it for a few practices. It seems to be working out.

On impacting the game and if Coach Petrucelli asked her to step up: He told the whole team we needed to step up. Being an upper classman this year, I feel like it is my responsibility and duty to step up, so I felt a little pressure to be the one. I might not be the one screaming everywhere but I can set an example, so I tried my hardest to be everywhere and do as much as a could.

On being the only upperclassmen to score this season: I mean I guess it helps my confidence. I don't really think about stats or an anything like that, because once I start thinking about that, then I feel a lot of pressure and start go down hill, so I try not to think about that stuff.

On scoring and the team's reaction: Happiness and excitement because we haven't really scored that many goals this season. That's all I can really say. Rejoicing.

Head Coach Chris Petrucelli
On the game: Our effort was really good. That's what really won the game for us. We played hard, with some intensity. I thought we came out and set the tone of the game early. We played well early in the game. It is always nice to go ahead. I really liked our response after their goal. We went and scored again. It is a lot easier to play when you're playing from the lead. We've been on the other side a few times, finding out how hard it is to play from behind. I think that was really us coming out and playing really hard at the beginning. That was key for us.

On getting a win: Well I think the pressure came off a little when the final whistle went off because it was a little crazy at the end. I don't think any of us were happy being one-and-three. That's not what we're all about. You know it has been a hard week for us. Physically, we got beat up pretty bad. We've got some injuries that we're nursing, but it was really good to see our response today.