By Brent IngramWhen Kentucky men’s soccer head coach Johan Cedergren and junior goalkeeper Callum Irving spoke during UK’s Fall Sports Media Day in August, it was clear that UK’s 2013 season fell short of Cedergren’s expectations for the program. The Wildcats finished 2013 with a 7-10-3 record, missing the NCAA Tournament after earning a hosting bid in the big dance in Cedergren’s first season in 2012. “When we were sitting on the team bus coming back from the conference tournament last year, being knocked out of the semifinal and that being the end of the season, we knew we had to go back to the drawing board and figure out a new teaching plan,” Cedergren said.  Cedergren worked with his coaching staff and put together a plan. That direction has developed into one of the top seasons in program history in 2014, with the Wildcats riding the historic defensive unit, behind Conference USA Player of the Year Callum Irving, to its sixth all-time NCAA Tournament berth. “It is really good,” Cedergren said. “It is a step in the right direction for us. We talk a lot about our vision and our goals and where we want to be and the long-term vision for us is to be in a Final Four in the next four years or so. With that comes recruiting and developing players.”The Wildcats will host Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Complex, with the game to be broadcast live on the SEC Network +. A win over Oakland would pit UK against national seed Michigan State on Sunday in East Lansing, Mich.  At the core of UK’s turnaround has been the development of the sophomore class. With 19 of UK’s 25-man roster underclassmen, the Wildcats would not be in the NCAA Tournament if not for the progress of their second-year standouts. UK’s regular starting 11 boasts a bevy of sophomores, including first-team all-league midfielder Napo Matsoso, back-four stalwarts Kaelon Fox, Charlie Reymann, Matt Quick and Jordan Wilson, and midfield threats Ryan Creel and Paul Sime. Cedergren points directly to the commitment from the sophomore class as a reason for UK’s campaign in 2014, along with the development of juniors Kristoffer Tollefsen (three goals) and Bryan Celis (two goals, six assists). “All that matters to me is the team and if you are not buying in well then I am not interested,” Cedergren said. “Those are the guys that are really buying into the system. But they have worked so hard. There was a whole complete mental shift that we had to do as a staff and as players.”Part of the development of its underclassmen came in the form of its leadership and emerging vocal presence on and off the pitch.  “There are a couple of guys that we asked to be leaders, and they were freshmen, it was only their second semester at Kentucky,” Cedergren said. “You look at Charlie, Jordan, Kaelon, Quick, (Alex) Bumpus, Napo, I could go on and on but that was a class that we mostly signed three years ago. So we knew what kind of quality we had and it was just a matter of making them understand what it takes to win at the Division-I level, and win a lot. The success that we’ve had this fall, we started the process that goes back to January and February of this year.”Ranked 24th in the final National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, Kentucky (10-4-5) has been paced by one of the best defenses in the history of the program, riding Irving and UK’s dynamic back four to a league-best 0.70 goals-against average. While Irving, a 6-foot-1 native of Vancouver, British Columbia, has turned in a record-breaking season in between the pipes, Cedergren points to his leadership as a key ingredient to UK’s success.”I just couldn’t be more fortunate in terms of what kind of team captain you want to have on your team,” Cedergren said. “We talk about being selfless, humble and having a team-first mentality. While all of those things are great, if you don’t have the basic ability or talent then it doesn’t matter. Cally is the perfect blend.” Irving has saved 63 shots on the year, his 0.70 goals-against average ranks fourth in UK history and his 10 clean sheets is the second most in school annals. “He is one of the best goalkeepers in the country, but he is also one of the most selfless and humble people I have ever been around,” Cedergren said. “For the rest of the guys, they look around at Cally because he is one of the best players we have, and they don’t have an excuse because Cally never gives an excuse. Cally always gives 100 percent. When you are starting to look for what kind of captain you are looking for you are looking for someone who leads by example on and off the field. Cally hasn’t missed a beat since he was given the captain’s arm band.”Going into the season, a question mark was where the Wildcats would find scoring to replace four-year star forward Tyler Riggs, who netted 29 goals and had 10 assists in his career. UK’s offense was led by Matsoso, Celis and Tollefsen but senior forward Justin Laird emerged as an athletic target forward at the top of UK’s offensive attack. Laird, a Wright State transfer for the 2013 season, owns six goals and four assists for the Wildcats in his senior season. “Justin is very humble, very selfless and didn’t mind doing the work,” Cedergren said. “If you look at how far he has come from the guy who walked onto campus in January two years ago, to the guy who is now one of the best forwards in Conference USA, the evolution and the progress has been tremendous. “If you look at all the clean sheets and the success that we’ve had this year, a lot of that has come from the work that Justin has done on defense. Not only is he a good goal scorer who is dangerous around the box, he is also someone who helps us out a lot defensively.”Kentucky will be faced with a stiff test on Thursday in the Horizon League Champion Oakland Golden Grizzlies, a team that has lost just once in its last 13 matches. Napo Matsoso’s 2014 season has firmly implanted him as one of the top young players in college soccer, with the Louisville, Ky., by way of Lesotho native owning five goals and four assists, including a natural hat trick at South Carolina. “I have never worked with a better No. 10,” Cedergren raved. “I have never worked with a better playmaker than Napo. That is a factual statement. Napo is a perfect blend between natural ability and drive and desire. I have had some really special players, the first-ever unanimous (2008) Ivy League Player of the Year in Craig Henderson, who now plays professionally in Norway, he played in the attacking midfield role and he has caps from this year and all that stuff, but Napo is better.”Some of the things that Napo can do on the ball, very few people can do in college. But at the same time, as soon as we lose the ball and we need someone to track some guy, or make a run through them, Napo has no problem doing the work.”Kentucky’s hosting berth is its second in three years under Cedergren, who has paced the Wildcats to a pair of NCAA Tournaments in quicker succession than any other coach in UK history.”Like I said after the South Carolina (C-USA Tournament) game, hosting a first-round game is not the end all be all,” Cedergren said. “It is a step in the right direction but we want to win the game tomorrow and keep playing.”