Aug. 21, 2003

Ft. Wayne, Ind. — The 2003 Kentucky men’s soccer team opens its season with two exhibition matches at the IPFW Soccer Showcase in Fort Wayne, Ind., this weekend. UK will face-off against archrival Indiana on Friday, Aug. 22, at 6 p.m. and Michigan State on Sunday, Aug. 24, at 1 p.m.

“We are very excited to participate in the premier preseason tournament in the country,” Coach Ian Collins said. “We are not worried about the results this weekend, but we are more interested in how the players perform both individually and collectively.”

Kentucky appeared in the IPFW Soccer Showcase last season, facing top-ranked Indiana and Michigan State. The Cats tied with the Hoosiers, 1-1, and fell to the Spartans, 3-1.

In the 2002 regular season, Kentucky lost a closely-contested match against Indiana, 2-1, at the UK Soccer Complex in front of over 1,600 fans. Indiana went on to amass a 15-4-2 record and advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament.

The Spartans finished with a 12-7 record in 2002 and welcome back eight starters from last year’s squad.

The Cats’ roster features only four returning starters from last season, but the expectations are still high. In fact, UK is the preseason favorite to win the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship according to a poll of the league’s coaches.