Head coach Ian Collins previews Friday?s match up with the Herd
?
On
Marshall
?They played great this weekend in
Florida
and are on a bit of an uptick right now. They?re very well coached and very passionate. It?s going to be tough, every conference game is a battle. They have a couple special players up front and some guys that are very dangerous. We?ve had squeaky games with
Marshall
over the years and this will be no different. We?re going to have to be prepared to play and have the right mentality to play.?
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On the home field advantage and the eight-game home unbeaten streak
?On a Friday night, our fans have been great to us and that always helps. Other things make a difference as well, such as travel and guys getting sleep in their own beds. But, it?s just a fun place to play. We?ve got a great complex and I think that helps. I?d like to keep the streak going. I think everybody in the MAC wants to knock us off and be the one to dethrone us. But there?s no doubt that its fun to play at home. I hope we can come out and play our best, which we haven?t done at home this year.?
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On the MAC shutout streak
?I guess it will mean something if we can keep it going. I don?t really think about and I don?t think our players think about it either. We don?t talk about it. It?s just something that is there. We go into every game with the mentality that we want to shut the team out and Friday will be no different. But, we didn?t shut out anybody over the weekend, so it?s important that we get back on track. We?ve got to settle down and defend better to play our best.?
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On how playing
UK
motivates MAC opponents
?There?s no question it motivates them. We?re the defending champions and we?ve been at the top of the league the last few years. We?re going to get everybody?s ?A? game, it always happens. We don?t expect any less and we have to be ready for that. I know
Marshall
fancies its chances coming in here. I know Bob Gray, the coach, very well. He does a terrific job. He?ll have them ready and motivated and they want to be the team to beat us on our own field.?
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Notes vs.
Marshall
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Wildcats Host Marshall in MAC Showdown
Kentucky
puts its seven-game Mid-America Conference winning streak on the line when it hosts
Marshall
on Friday at
7:30 p.m.
at the UK Soccer Complex. The Wildcats are unbeaten in their last five outings and have not lost at home in seven straight. Last weekend,
Kentucky
earned a draw with
Georgia
Southern before beating
Winthrop
, 2-1, in the UK Invitational. Senior Jamal Shteiwi scored his team-high sixth goal of the season against
Winthrop
and Michael Strong netted the game winner in his first career game. Anthony Peters tallied the goal against
Georgia
Southern and has a four-game point (goal or assist) streak.
Marshall
enters the game fresh off a 3-2 win over
Cleveland
State
last weekend.
Kentucky
has won three of the last four meetings, all by shutout.
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Quick Notes
?
Kentucky
is 6-0-2 in its last eight home games. The streak is third longest in school history, one short of the record unbeaten streak of nine.
?
?
Kentucky
has won seven straight MAC games, all via shutout. The Wildcats shutout streak in league play stands at 633 minutes and 10 seconds.
?
? Dating back to the beginning of the 2003 season,
Kentucky
is
15-1-1
when scoring first and
1-8-1
when allowing the opponent to score first.
?
? Sophomore Anthony Peters has a goal and three assists in his past four games. He has a point (goal or assist) in four straight contests.
?
? Jamal Shteiwi has already surpassed his goal scoring total from last year with six. All of his goals have come in the past six games.
?
?
Kentucky
has already been booked for 22 yellow cards this year and has three games of four yelllow?s or more. The Wildcats had just 42 yellow cards all of last season.
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Last Time Out:
Kentucky
2,
Winthrop
1
Freshman Michael Strong saw the first action of his collegiate career and netted the game-winning goal in the 49th minute for
Kentucky
in a 2-1 victory over
Winthrop
.
Pressing forward as the
Winthrop
defense played the ball back to goalkeeper Steve Winton, Strong rushed Winton as he tried to clear it. Leaping right as Winton made contact from the edge of the box, Strong blocked the attempted clear and the ball rebounded directly into the goal.
Winthrop
?s goal came on a counterattack in the eighth minute when Kevin Green served a perfect ball into the box from the left flank. Sean Weron, streaking toward the back post, greeted it perfectly with a header that beat
Kentucky
goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum.
Jamal Shteiwi answered in the 20th minute for the Wildcats with a tremendous goal. He took a feed on the left edge of the box and eluded an Eagle defender before blasting a shot past Winton for the equalizer.
Kentucky
clearly controlled the first half of play despite only netting the one goal. The Wildcats held a 6-2 shot advantage at the break and finished with 14 shots to just seven for
Winthrop
.
The second half was a physical one with 16 combined fouls and six cards passed out. The Wildcats continued to apply pressure as evidence by their eight shots and six corners in the half.
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MAC-Daddy
Kentucky
has clearly become the program to beat in the MAC with three conference championships in the last four years. The Wildcats have won seven straight conference contests heading into this weekend?s showdown with
Marshall
, last losing at
Akron
in November 2002.
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No Goal For You, Come Back One Year
When it comes to MAC play, one thing has become a constant: Opponents will not score on
Kentucky
. The Wildcats have shutout their last seven conference opponents and have a shutout streak of 633 minutes and 10 seconds in league play.
Akron
was the last team to net a goal against
Kentucky
in league play, doing so on
Nov. 1, 2002
in the 87th minute. The Wildcats went through the entire MAC schedule last year without allowing a goal and continued the run earlier this year against
Western Michigan
.
Marshall
enters Friday?s contest having been shutout in three of its last four meetings with
Kentucky
.
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Home Sweet Home
Kentucky
ran its home unbeaten streak to eight this past weekend in the UK Invitational. The run dates back to Oct. 3 of last year when the Wildcats beat
Appalachain
State
. During the streak,
Kentucky
has gone 6-0-2 with four shutouts and have not allowed more than one goal in any game. The Wildcats have outscored opponents 14-4 at home over that span.
The seven-game streak is tied for the third longest in school history and is the longest since an eight-game run from the 2001-02 seasons. The school record is nine, set from 1991-92 and tied in 1995.
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Unbeaten String at Five
With its win over
Winthrop
on Sunday,
Kentucky
extended its unbeaten streak to five games. The Wildcats have not lost since dropping a hard-fought 2-1 decision to No. 17 Tulsa in the second game of the seaosn. The last time
Kentucky
put together a six-game unbeaten streak was the 2001 campaign. The best unbeaten run in school history is seven games.
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Great 8
Senior Jamal Shteiwi has shown early this season why he is the frontrunner to repeat as MAC Player of the Year as well as an All-America candidate. Shteiwi has already surpassed his goal total from a year ago with six in just seven contests and has either scored or assisted on eight if the Wildcats 13 goals this year.
He stands in fourth place in school annals for career points and fifth in career goals scored. Shteiwi is three assists shy of tying the school career record.
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Seeing Greune
Junior goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum has pitched two shutouts in his last five outings and has not allowed more than one goal in any of those contests. He made three saves to blank
Louisville
in a 2-0 win and recorded seven saves in
Kentucky
?s 3-0 win at
Western Kentucky
. Last season, Gruenebaum blanked 10 opponents in 21 games en route to a 0.67 goals-against average, which ranked 17th in the nation.
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A Senecal World
Junior Thomas Senecal has become an offensive force this season. The
Bethesda
,
Md.
, native has already matched his total goal total from 2003 with three. He has found the back of the net against No. 7 SMU, UNC-Asheville and
Western Michigan
this season. As a result of the offensive output, Senecal has moved to a midfield position from his previous defending spot. He sat out the majority of
Kentucky
?s tie with
Georgia
Southern and the entire contest with
Winthrop
last weekend due to injury. The loss greatly impacted the play of
Kentucky
?s midfield.
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Peter-riffic
Sophomore Anthony Peters has finally found the groove he was in at the end of the 2002 season before sitting out 2003. The
Baton Rouge
,
La.
, native, has a goal or an assist in each of his past four games after not tallying a point in the first three. He scored
Kentucky
?s lone goal in the tie against
Georgia
Southern before assisting on the equalizer against
Winthrop
in the UK Invitational. His first two assists came on rebounds of his shots on scoring chances he created.
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Freshmen Influence
Kentucky
?s talented freshmen class has already made its mark on the program and three true freshmen have thrust themselves into a starting role. Michael D?Agostino and Nathan Marks have started every game while Andrew Alexander has started all but one. Fellow freshmen Dave Hertel has seen action in every game. D?Agostino and Alexander each have a goal and an assist in the past three games. Marks recorded his first career assist last week at
Western Michigan
.
Freshman Michael Strong got into the action last weekend against
Winthrop
and notched the game-winning goal in the 49th minute.
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First Goal Wins
Since the beginning of the 2003 season, the team to score first in a
Kentucky
game has won nearly every time. The Wildcats are
15-1-1
when scoring first since last year. The lone loss came last year in the NCAA Tournament when
UK
fell to
Indiana
in double overtime after scoring first. On the other end of the spectrum,
Kentucky
is a paltry
1-8-1
when allowing the opponent to score first with the lone win coming against
Winthrop
. Both Wildcat losses this year came after the opponent scored first. Strangely enough,
Kentucky
rallied to tie each of those games before allowing a game-winner.
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The Yellow Rule
Kentucky
has been a physical team all season long and that is evident by the 22 yellow cards the Wildcats have received. After not being carded in the season opener,
Kentucky
has been given at least two yellow cards in each of its past six games. Three times, the Wildcats have been booked four times or more. Prior to this stretch,
Kentucky
had not received more than three cards in a game since October 2002.
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Exhausting Stretch Comes to an End
Kentucky
finally finished an exhausting stretch when it played at
Western Michigan
on Sunday. The Wildcats had five games in 10 days, four of which came away from home.
Kentucky
went to
Dallas
for two games in the SMU Mi Cocina Classic before travelling to
Louisville
and
Kalamazoo
,
Mich.
, in the stretch.
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Rough Start
For the first time since 1998, the
Kentucky
men?s soccer team started a season 0-2. The Wildcats opened the season with a pair of losses to No. 7 SMU and No. 17 Tulsa in the SMU Mi Cocina Classic from Sept. 3-5. Six years ago,
Kentucky
began with a 4-0 loss to
Cincinnati
and a 2-0 loss to Cal State-Fullerton. It was part of a five-game losing skid to open the year.
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Repeat!
According to the coaches of the Mid-America Conference,
Kentucky
is the favorite to win its fourth league championship in five years, including its second straight. The Wildcats received five of seven first place votes to beat out second choice
Akron
as the preseason favorite.
Kentucky
enters the season on a six-game MAC win streak.
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What?s Returning
Kentucky returns the bulk of its offense from the 2003 campaign as each of the team?s top five goal scorers is back, led by sophomore Riley O?Neill, who was the MAC Newcomer of the Year after tallying seven goals. Overall, the Wildcats have better than 80 percent of their goal scoring back from last season.
Kentucky
is also returning better than 80 percent of its assist total, led by MAC Player of the Year Jamal Shteiwi. He had 13 assists last season.
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Defending MAC Champions
For the third time in the last four years,
Kentucky
enters the season as the defending MAC champion. Last year, the Wildcats went undefeated at 6-0-0 in conference action to reclaim the title for the first time since 2001.
Kentucky
won its first MAC crown in 2000 and has added two more to its collection since then.
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MAC Dynasty
Since the 1999 season, the
Kentucky
men?s soccer program has become somewhat of a dynasty in the Mid-America Conference. In the past six years, the Wildcats have won three regular season and three tournament titles, including sweeping both in 2001. Twice in that span
UK
has gone undefeated and untied in conference action, including last year?s 6-0-0 mark. Last season?s team also became the first team in league history to go unscored upon in conference action.
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Trio Named to
UK
Invitational All-Tournament Team
Three Wildcats, including a surprise selection, were named to the UK Invitational after guiding
Kentucky
to a 1-0-1 mark in the tournament. Not surprisingly, Jamal Shteiwi and Nathan Li each earned the honor. However, Michael Strong, who had never played in a college game before the tournament also got the nod after scoring the game winner against
Winthrop
.
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Week of Shteiwi
After scoring four goals, including one game winner, and tallying one assist in three games last week, Jamal Shteiwi earned MAC Player of the Week honors while also being named to the National Team of the Week by College Soccer News and Soccer
America
. It was the fourth time in his career that Shteiwi was tabbed the Player of the Week by the MAC.
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Shteiwi
, Stewart Named to SMU All-Tournament Team
Senior Jamal Shteiwi and junior Brandon Stewart each earned SMU Mi Cocina Classic All-Tournament team honors for their performance over the weekend. Shteiwi had a hand in both
Kentucky
goals over the weekend by scoring one and assisting on the other. Stewart solidified a Wildcat defense that played a man down for most of the second half against 17th-ranked
Tulsa
.
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MAC-complishment
The 2003
Kentucky
men?s soccer team did something no other MAC team ever had. In their six conference games, the Wildcats did not allow a goal en route to an undefeated MAC slate and a conference title. It was just the fourth time a team had gone undefeated and untied in league play — the second in three years for
UK
.
