Sept. 11, 2003
CINCINNATI, Ohio – The University of Kentucky men’s soccer team defeated Cincinnati, 1-0, Thursday evening in Cincinnati, Ohio. UK (2-0-0) dropped Cincinnati (0-1-3) for the second consecutive season and is off to its best start since 2000, when the Cats started 2-0 and finished 11-9-2 with a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“This is a very difficult place to play and Cincinnati is a very good team,” said head coach Ian Collins. “This is a great win for us considering that we played a good team on the road.”
Sophomore Thomas Senecal headed in his second goal of the season off junior Jamal Shteiwi’s free kick in the 44th minute of the game. Senecal now has two goals in two games this season after not scoring in 11 games his freshman campaign.
“Jamal has been hitting some beautiful balls in the box and I missed a couple against UNC Asheville so I worked on that all week,” Senecal said. “It’s a big win and although it was an ugly game we are happy to get the win.”
The shutout against the Bearcats marked the first time in history that Kentucky started the season with consecutive shutouts. Sophomore goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum recorded the second shutout of his career and the stingy UK defense has not relinquished a goal this season.
“Andy was solid and he did what we asked him to do,” said Collins. “You have to keep the defense tight if you want to win games, but it was a very hard game and happy to get the victory.”
The Cats hit the road again on Sunday to face in-state rival Western Kentucky in Bowling Green at 3 p.m. E.D.T. Kentucky will play its home opener against another in-state rival, Louisville, on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the UK Soccer Complex.
