LEXINGTON ? After a second-place finish in the rugged Conference USA and a trip to the C-USA Tournament final, the Kentucky men?s soccer team wrapped up the regular season ranked 13th in the NSCAA poll.

However, despite the lofty ranking and a 14-5-2 record, the Wildcats were a surprising omission from the 48-team NCAA Tournament field that was announced Monday afternoon. Along with its No. 13 ranking by the NSCAA, UK also earned end of the year rankings from Soccer America (24), Soccer Times (18) and CollegeSoccerNews.com (21).

The Wildcats were the only team ranked in the top 25 in all four major polls without garnering an NCAA invitation. On the flipside, 10 teams that were not ranked in any of the four polls earned at-large berths to the tournament. Also among the at large invites was UAB, which finished three spots below Kentucky in Conference USA this year.

The 14 wins are tied for the second most in school history while UK?s 10-1 home record this year was a school best. Four-year seniors Riley O?Neill and Nathan Li end their careers with the second best winning-percentage in school history. Since 2003, the Wildcats have won 62 percent of their games while posting a staggering 30-6-5 record in front of the home crowd.

Kentucky did most of its damage with a young team, starting as many as five freshmen and two sophomores at times. Looking ahead to 2007, the Wildcats lose only O?Neill and Li to graduation from their typical starting 11.