LEXINGTON, Ky. — Winners of three of its past four, the Kentucky men?s soccer team finishes its regular season home slate, as the No. 1 SMU Mustangs travel to Lexington for a 7 p.m. EDT Saturday game at the UK Soccer Complex.
Kentucky (6-8-2, 4-2 Conference USA) enters the game having claimed three crucial conference wins in its past four games, with the lone blemish coming in a mid-week loss to No. 7 Indiana on Wednesday. The Wildcats three-game conference winning streak secured UK a spot in the conference tournament, to be held November 14-18 in Birmingham, Ala.
The Wildcats have suffered through significant injury issues this season, at times missing as many as 13 players from its regular playing rotation. Among the key players to miss time this year include, Matt Weiler, Lucas Carden, Bingy Lara, Andrew Alexander, Stephen Beiro, Issam Sawtari, Tyler Burns, Nathan Marks, Luke Maitland, Jase Griffiths, and Masumi Turnbull.
Leading the charge for UK, both offensively and defensively, has been defender Barry Rice. Rice, a sophomore from Parma, Ohio, has been one of the top players in the conference this season, leading UK with seven goals. Of his seven goals, six have come in the form of headers. In UK?s 3-0 win over Marshall last Wednesday, Rice tallied two goals and one assist. Senior forward Aaron Swanson has also performed well on the frontline for UK, netting five goals on a team-high 28 shots. Sophomore forward Tim Crone has contributed three goals and UK?s leading assist man, junior midfielder Masumi Turnbull, has dished out six assists. In goal, UK?s keeper Dan Williams has performed admirably behind a depleted UK defense, saving 63 shots.
SMU (11-2-2, 6-0-1 C-USA) enters the contest as the top-ranked team in the land, having not suffered a conference defeat this season. SMU has won seven consecutive games and has not lost since dropping a 2-1 decision in overtime to No. 24 Washington on September 16. Bruno Guarda, arguably one of the top players in the nation, leads the Mustangs in points, tallying seven goals and six assists. Dan Saintus has totaled three goals and a team-high six assists. Richard Oliva, has contributed seven goals and an assist. In between the pipes for SMU, Steve Sandbo has proved to be difficult to solve, allowing only 13 goals on the year and a 0.88 goals against average, posting four shutouts on the year.
Last season, SMU edged UK in both the regular season meeting and in the C-USA Championship game, extending its all-time series advantage to 5-0 over the Wildcats.
The contest will mark UK?s first televised game of the season, as CSTV will broadcast the game on a delayed basis, airing on CSTV Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Calling the game will be Jason Knapp on play-by-play and Shep Missing handling color.
The game will also serve as senior night for UK?s eight graduating players.
