LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The Kentucky men?s soccer team begins the 2004 campaign on Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET when it faces 11th-ranked SMU in the SMU Mi Cocina Classic at Dallas.

The Wildcats are coming off a 12-7-2 season, in which they won their third Mid-America Conference championship in four years. Kentucky reached the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time before being ousted by eventual national champion Indiana in a 2-1 double-overtime loss.

?It?s good to get going,? said head coach Ian Collins. ?The guys have trained hard in practice and looked pretty sharp, so it will be good to see what we can do.?

SMU is fresh off a 13-6-2 season and enters the contest ranked among the nation?s premier teams. The Mustangs are coached by Schellas Hyndman, who has 405 career wins in his 27 years of coaching.

?It?s a tough game to start with, but there is a reason we schedule these types of games,? Collins said. ?It?s going to be difficult on SMU?s home field. They?re a great program and they?re well coached. They have great players and a great history. The only way we?ll find out if we?re ready is on Friday evening.?

The Wildcats return nine starters from last season?s team, including 2003 MAC Player of the Year Jamal Shteiwi. Better than 80 percent of the goals scored in 2003 are back for the 2004 season.

?We?ve got a lot more attacking weapons than we have had in the past couple of years,? said Collins. ?On the attacking side, we?re doing quite well. We?re creating a lot of chances and putting together some good passing sequences. We?ve got good offensive rhythm, so that is something we?ll look forward to being a strength on our team.?

In season openers, Kentucky is 6-6-1 all time after beating UNC-Asheville, 3-0, in last year?s first game.

Kentucky will round out the weekend on Sunday with a 2 p.m. ET match against No. 19 Tulsa.