LEXINGTON, Ky. — After posting its second consecutive season with 12 or more wins last year, the Kentucky men’s soccer team will play a challenging 2010 schedule, including 11 home dates at the UK Soccer Complex, UK head coach Ian Collins announced Tuesday.
“We are looking forward to the season and a challenging 2010 schedule,” Collins said. “In order to prepare us for the conference schedule and also to put us in a position for a bid into the NCAA Tournament, it is important to face a tough non-league schedule. Having non-league matches against Loyola Marymount, Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, Evansville, Iona and Louisville will certainly help our team if we can get results.”
Kentucky (13-6, 5-3 Conference USA in 2009) will play 20 total games, including two exhibition matches in 2010. The Wildcats will host a total of 11 games at the UK Soccer Complex, including two invitational tournaments to open the season.
“We consistently rank among the NCAA leaders in attendance and it is always very important to us when we are making the schedule that we have some good home matches at the UK Soccer Complex,” Collins said. “With several good teams coming to Lexington like Loyola Marymount, Louisville, Indiana, South Carolina and Memphis among others, fans should get to see some high-quality performances throughout the season.”
The Wildcats will begin the season with a pair of exhibition games, traveling to Dayton, Ohio, to face Dayton in an exhibition on Aug. 23. UK will then wrap up the preseason schedule with a match on Aug. 28 against Marquette, scheduled for 1 p.m. ET at the UK Soccer Complex.
Kentucky will open the regular season with back-to-back invitational tournaments, hosting the UK Invitational Tournament on Sept. 3-5 – featuring IUPUI, UNC Asheville and Eastern Illinois – and the Kentucky Invitational on Sept. 10-12, including Houston Baptist, Butler and Loyola Marymount.
Following the two home opening tournaments, UK will travel to Columbia, S.C., to participate in the South Carolina Gamecock Classic. UK will face UConn at 5 p.m. ET on Sept. 17 to open the tournament, wrapping it up with a match against Iona in Columbia on Sept. 19 at noon.
The Wildcats will then hit the road for four of the next five matches, going to Michigan (Sept. 22 – 7 p.m.) and Evansville (Sept. 26 – 3 p.m.), before hosting Louisville in an annual rivalry tilt on Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. at the UK Soccer Complex.
Following the game with the Cardinals, UK will open conference play with back-to-back C-USA matches at Marshall (Oct. 6 – 7 p.m.) and at UAB (Oct. 9 – 8 p.m.). The Wildcats will then return to Lexington for a four-game homestand, hosting league foes UCF (Oct. 13 – 7 p.m.), Memphis (Oct. 17 – 1 p.m.) and FIU (Oct. 24 – 1 p.m.), hosting traditional power Indiana in a non-league match on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. UK will then hit the road for back-to-back challenging conference matches at Tulsa (Oct. 27 – 8 p.m.) and at SMU (Oct. 30 – 8 p.m.). The Wildcats will complete the regular season by hosting the Gamecocks at 1 p.m. on Nov. 7.
The C-USA Tournament will be held at the site of the regular-season champion, hosted last season by league champion Tulsa.
UK returns its leading scorer from last season, sophomore Matt Lodge, who led UK with 14 points (six goals, two assists) as a freshman last season.
