April 30, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A year removed from a hosting berth in the NCAA Tournament, the Kentucky men’s soccer team will open a new stadium in 2013 with 11 home games, it was announced by head coach Johan Cedergren on Tuesday afternoon.
The Wildcats will play 11 total home dates at a sparkling new UK Soccer Complex, set to open for the fall season. Overall, UK will play eight of its 18-game schedule against teams in the 48-team 2012 NCAA Tournament field.
UK will open the two-match exhibition schedule on Aug. 20 vs. Dayton in Lexington at 7 p.m. ET, beginning the regular season with a 7:30 p.m. ET matchup with Wright State at the state-of-the-art UK Soccer Complex on Aug. 30.
“We are really eager to get our 2013 schedule going,” Cedergren said. “When we started working on our schedule we wanted to find some challenging non-conference games, bring some talented teams into Lexington and prepare our team for a grueling league schedule. With a new stadium on the horizon, a tough schedule and a talented roster in 2013, it is going to be a fun season for our program and fan base.”
After hosting Wright State in the opener, Kentucky will welcome Georgia State (Sept. 1), IPFW (Sept. 8), UAB (Sept. 29), Evansville (Oct. 8), South Carolina (Oct. 13), Valparaiso (Oct. 16), Tulsa (Oct. 23), FIU (Oct. 26) and FAU (Nov. 3) to the UK Soccer Complex during the 2013 season.
UK will play several challenging road games, with an exhibition tilt at Northern Kentucky on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. ET beginning the road tests. After two games to open the regular season, UK will travel to East Tennessee State (Sept. 5) and Xavier (Sept. 13). A two-game trip to the Gamecocks Classic in Columbia, S.C., will see the Wildcats face Dartmouth (Sept. 20) and South Florida (Sept. 22), two of the top programs in college soccer.
After opening the Conference USA schedule with UAB at home, UK will travel to Old Dominion (Oct. 4), Charlotte (Oct. 19), Marshall (Oct. 30) and New Mexico (Nov. 9) to conclude the road slate.
In Cedergren’s first season in 2012, he paced the Wildcats to its first NCAA Tournament hosting berth since the 2003 season. The Wildcats went 10-9-2 a year ago, including finishing the regular season with a No. 25 NCAA RPI.
