Women’s Soccer Kicks off 2024 Season Against Central Michigan
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky women’s soccer (0-0-0) begins a new athletic year for the University of Kentucky when the Cats host the Central Michigan Chippewas (0-0-0) on Thursday night at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex at 7:30 p.m.
The contest is the first regular season event on the 2024-25 UK Athletics calendar and highlights the 10th season of Kentucky soccer to be played at the Bell since its construction in 2014.
Schedule t-shirts will be given away to the first 250 fans in attendance on Thursday night. Season tickets for all Kentucky soccer men’s and women’s home games can be purchased here, while single-game tickets are available here. The game will also be available on SECN+.
Kentucky is coming off one of their best seasons in recent memory boasting a 9-4-6 record in 2023, which included a record-setting 13-match unbeaten streak to start the 2023 season. Then fifth-year Jordyn Rhodes shattered the school record for career goals breaking Kim Labelle’s previous mark of 44, set from 1994-1997 while returning goalkeeper Marz Josephson finished 2023 with a career-high 52 saves and finished the year with a 0.62 goals against average, the third-best mark in program history. Josephson had nine shutouts on the season, tied for the second-most ever by a Kentucky goalkeeper in a single season.
The success of Rhodes and Josephson propelled Kentucky to their first SEC Tournament appearance since the 2020 season and their first in the 10-team format since 2015 where they made the quarterfinals for the first time since 2014.
Kentucky returns 15 players from the 2023 season including assist leader and All-SEC Freshman Team honoree Tanner Strickland and Second-Team All-SEC defender Grace Phillpotts.
Now in his third season at the helm, Kentucky head coach Troy Fabiano has bolstered his roster with a total of 25 new student-athletes. The group is comprised of nine transfers with five of the nine being all-conference award winners at their previous schools. Fabiano also adds 16 freshmen to the mix making it one of the largest signing classes in program history.
Earlier today, Maddie Kemp, Marz Josephson, Sophia Mattice, Grace Phillpotts, and Makala Woods were selected to the SEC Preseason Watchlist, marking the second time Josephson has been nominated for the honor and the first time for the remaining group.
For the latest on UK Women’s Soccer, follow the Wildcats on Facebook, Instagram, X and at UKathletics.com.
