Men’s soccer gets on the board early and often.

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 3, 1999) — The University of Kentucky men’s soccer team opened its1999 season with a win on Friday night, ripping UC Santa Barbara 5-1 infirst-round action at the UNLV Rebel Classic.

The Cats (1-0) wasted little time in opening scoring, as Michael Sticklerfound the net off a Giovanni Fernandes assist in the 12th minute.

J.D. Stephenson followed in the 36th minute, as the UK freshman tallied agoal in his first collegiate game to make the score 2-0.

In the second stanza, Jason Bell exploded for a pair of goals, in the 55th and61st minutes, to widen the margin to 4-0.

After the Gauchos (1-1) narrowed the score to 4-1 in the 64th minute,Stickler again answered the bell for the Cats, blasting home a Brent Raineycorner at 69:34 to push the score to 5-1.

“Of course we’re happy to start the season off with a win,” UK Coach IanCollins said. “We were able to capitalize on our scoring chances and comeout on top. We still have some thing to work on, but we’ve certainly gottenoff to a good start.”

The Cats return to action on Sunday, when they face host UNLV in thechampionship match of the Rebel Classic at 3 p.m. ET.

UNLV Rebel ClassicLas Vegas, Nev. First Round ResultsUNLV 2, West Virginia 1UK , UCSB        1       2       FUK      2       3       5       UCSB    0       1       1Goals: UK- Michael Stickler (Giovanni Fernandes) 11:38, J.D. Stepheson (none)35:26, Jason Bell (Lee Baker, Antti Peltonen) 54:08, Bell (Baker) 60:35, Stickler (Rainey) 69:34, UCSB- Jaime Ambriz (Kenny Newendrop) 63:18