LEXINGTON ? Kentucky men?s soccer goaltender Andy Gruenebaum has been named the Preseason Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year, it was announced Tuesday by the league office.

The Wildcats, who make the jump from to Conference USA from the Mid-American Conference this year, were picked to finish sixth in the 10-team league in a vote by the league coaches. SMU was picked to win the championship, with Tulsa, Memphis, South Carolina and UAB rounding out the top five. UK beat the Blazers in Birmingham a year ago.

Last year, Memphis won the league title, but that was before perennial powers SMU, Tulsa, South Carolina and Kentucky joined the league. For the past decade, the Wildcats have competed in the MAC, winning four conference championships and three league tournament titles.

Gruenebaum has been a first-team All-MAC selection each of the past two years while ranking in the top 20 in the country in goals against average each year.

Over the summer, Gruenebaum led his Des Moines Menace club team to the Premier Development League national championship. He earned championship game MVP honors for making two saves on penalty kicks after the two teams fought to a scoreless draw. His Menace club also worked its way through the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup to the round of 16, a place usually reserved for MLS teams.

Kentucky opens the regular season on Sept. 2 when it hosts Louisville. The Wildcats play a pair of exhibitions before that, including one this Friday in Fort Wayne, Ind., against Michigan State. Conference USA action begins for UK on Sept. 30 at Florida International.