DALLAS – For the first time in school history, the University of Kentucky men’s soccer team will play in thesecond round of the NCAA Tournament when it faces sixth-seeded Southern Methodist University. Action is setto begin at 8:30 p.m. EST at Westcott Field on the campus of SMU.

“It’s going to be a real battle,” head coach Ian Collins said. “This is a huge step for our team, and I hopewe can go out there and just do our best by playing really hard.”

The Cats (11-8-2) are coming off of a thrilling shootout victory over the ninth-ranked Saint Louis Billikens in thefirst round. Both teams played stellar defense, as neither was able to score in regulation or four overtimes.Senior goalkeeper Brian O’Leary, out of Lexington Paul Laurence Dunbar, stopped a career high 11 shots on thenight as he earned his ninth shutout of the season and fourth in the postseason. He then stopped two Billikenpenalty kicks and kicked one of his own to help lead UK to the 4-2 triumph.

SMU (18-4-0) advanced with a 2-0 victory over IUPUI in the first round. The Mustangs own the nation’stop scoring offense with 76 goals on the year (3.5 per game), while allowing only 21. They have scored 3 ormore goals 10 times while outshooting their opposition by a 2-1 margin.

With the dominant offense SMU presents, the Cats will need to play superb defense to advance again, buttheir play in the postseason has shown they are definitely able to do that. On the season, UK has scored only 24goals but has given up only 23. In four postseason games, the Cats have yet to surrender a goal.

The two teams have had five common opponents: Louisville, Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky, IUPUI andSaint Louis. SMU defeated all five, while UK defeated U of L, WKU and IUPUI, tied Saint Louis, and lost toVandy. This is the first meeting between the schools.