adidas/IU Credit Union Classic Game Notes
Aug. 30, 2001
The 23rd-ranked University of Kentucky men’s soccer team travels to Bloomington, Ind., for the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic on Aug. 31-Sept. 1. The Cats will face Butler in the opening game on Friday at 5 p.m. CST and will take on No. 4 Indiana at 7:30 p.m. CST on Saturday. All action will take place at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the IU campus.
The Cats are coming off a 1-1-0 exhibition tournament performance that saw them defeat No. 19 Alabama-Birmingham, 2-1, but fall to No. 17 South Carolina, 2-0. UK had some excellent performances from its returning athletes as well as its corps of freshmen and transfers. Both goals against UAB came from players who did not play for UK last year: junior Antti Peltonen, who sat out 2000 with an abdominal injury, and freshman Jamal Shteiwi.
UK is looking to build on its unprecedented success in 2000 which saw the Cats advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history after stunning No. 9 Saint Louis in a 4-2 penalty-kick victory in the first round.
The Cats return six starters from last season, including All-America candidate Ilkka Jantti. The Lahti, Finland, native has been named a preseason second-team All-American by CollegeSoccerNews.com and heads up a defensive corps that allowed only 26 goals in 2000.
Kentucky also welcomes back its leading scorer from 2000, Chris McDaniel. The sophomore from Tulsa, Okla., scored five goals (three game winners) and tallied one assist a year ago.
Joining Jantti in the back will be junior J.D. Stephenson. Stephenson made the move to defender as a sophomore after spending a season in the midfield. The Tulsa, Okla., native also combines with Jantti to improve the Cats’ offensive attack as both can strike from the back. They have contributed seven goals and 11 assists the past two years.
UK also welcomes a group of 13 newcomers, seven transfers and six freshmen. John Monebrake comes from Ohio State where he was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 1998 after leading the Buckeyes with 15 points and seven goals. Greg Raber joins the Wildcats from UNC Greensboro where he started 22 games in his two seasons with the Spartans. As a freshman, he recorded 923 minutes with a 0.14 goals-against average and as a sophomore played 800 minutes, maintaining a 1.46 GAA. Nathan Fleetwood, an Australian product, comes to the Bluegrass via Virginia Intermont College where he scored 12 goals and seven assists last season.
Olli Lehtimaki is the third Finland native on the UK roster and should be a force in the middle. Although this is his first season of collegiate competition, Lehtimaki’s experience is extensive. Playing with FC Hameenlinna in Finland, he tallied seven goals and six assists in 2000 and 10 goals in 1999.
UK and Butler have met twice in UK’s 10-year soccer history, with the Bulldogs winning both. In 1991, Butler topped the Cats, 1-0, in Lexington and matched that score in 1994, again at UK. The Bulldogs return nine starters from last season’s 6-13-0 squad that finished fifth in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, including their top two scorers: Michael Mariscala and Nick Pantazi, who each tallied 10 goals in 2000.
The Hoosiers and Cats have played nine times since 1992, with the Hoosiers holding the 8-1-0 advantage. The lone Wildcat victory came in 1995 when the Cats took a 1-0 win at IU. In a first-round NCAA matchup in 1999, the Cats took IU to two overtimes, playing a man down for the final 35 minutes of the game, before succumbing to the eventual national champions, 1-0.
