Aug. 15, 2001

The University of Kentucky men’s soccer team received its first preseason ranking in school history at No. 23 in the National Soccer Coaches Association/adidas? Division I Top 25. The ranking matches the Cats’ position in the final poll of the 2000 season.

“This is a great achievement for our team,” Coach Ian Collins said. “It is a great award for the success we had last year and is something for us to build on in 2001.”

The Cats’ schedule pits them against five of the Top 25 this season. They will match up against No. 17 South Carolina and No. 19 Alabama-Birmingham in a preseason tournament at IP Fort Wayne on August 25-26, No. 4 Indiana at the IU Classic on Sept. 1, No. 18 Ohio State in UK’s home opener on Sept. 7 and No. 22 Furman on Oct. 26 at the Florida International Invitational.

Also, senior Ilkka Jantti, an honorable-mention All-American in 2000, was named a preseason second-team All-American by CollegeSoccerNews.com and honorable mention by Collegesoccer.com. In 2000, Jantti was a key to one of the stingiest defenses in the country in leading the Cats to their first NCAA second-round appearance.

The top five include last season’s NCAA College Cup quartet of Connecticut, Creighton, Southern Methodist and Indiana, followed by North Carolina in the No. 5 spot.

NSCAA/adidas? Preseason Top 25
RankTeam2000 Record1Connecticut20-3-22Creighton         22-4-03Southern Methodist         20-5-04Indiana16-6-05North Carolina21-3-06Stanford         18-3-17Virginia         17-6-18Clemson14-4-29Brown13-6-110San Diego         16-2-211St. John's14-5-212Washington14-6-013Duke15-6-014San Jose State20-1-115Saint Louis13-3-216Rhode Island17-6-117South Carolina12-4-3
18Ohio State12-5-4
19Alabama-Birmingham         14-5-220James Madison17-4-121Illinois-Chicago         18-4-222Furman17-4-223Kentucky         11-9-224UCLA12-7-025William & Mary12-9-2* UK opponents in bold