Kentucky Begins C-USA Tournament with Rematch with FIU

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For the second time in six days, the No. 11 Kentucky men’s soccer team will play Florida International. This time the match will be in the Conference USA Tournament Semifinal at Charlotte’s Transamerica Field on Friday at 4:30 p.m.

The match will be broadcast on the C-USA Digital Network subscription service. 

As C-USA Regular-Season Champions, Kentucky advanced to the semifinal automatically. FIU defeated Old Dominion 4-2 on Wednesday to advance to the semifinal. 

The Setup

Ryan Creel’s 80th-minute goal gave Kentucky a 1-0 win over FIU last Saturday at The Bell to clinch UK’s first C-USA Title outright. 

Kentucky (12-3-2, 7-0-1 C-USA) won its first Conference USA Championship. The program now has five regular-season conference titles as UK won Mid-American Conference Championships in 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004. UK won the MAC Tournament Title in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Callum Irving anchored a defensive master class performance in the last outing holding the nation’s then-No. 9 scoring offense without a goal with multiple clearances in addition to a diving save in the 38th minute. FIU enters Friday’s match ranked 11th nationally in scoring offense, averaging 2.18 goals per game, and coming off a four-goal match.

Kentucky has the nation’s fifth best statistical defense, with a team 0.56 goals against average.

Callum Irving, who repeated as C-USA Player of the Year, Defensive MVP, Golden Glove Award winner, first team All-C-USA and as a selection to the C-USA All-Academic Team earlier this week, has kept two shutouts in a row, seven in league play and nine this year. Kentucky has 10 shutouts this season as Irving doesn’t get full credit for a game in which he played 79 minutes.

Charlie Reymann has assisted three goals in the last two matches.

Kentucky has won 12 games for the 10th time in program history.

Kentucky has reached the C-USA semifinal in three of Johan Cedergren’s four years at the helm of the program. 

Kentucky is undefeated against C-USA opposition this year, having finished the C-USA regular season 7-0-1, becoming the fourth team in league history to go through the league undefeated. 

Johan Cedergren has led UK to 10-win seasons two years in a row, and in three of his four years at the helm of the program.

UK scored 10 goals and allowed one goal in league games this year. The Wildcats have conceded 10 goals in 16 games this season, two in the last seven matches.

 

The opponent

FIU is 10-6-1 this season.

UK is 8-3-1 against FIU all-time. UK has won in a row.

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