UK Soccer to Begin C-USA Play at Florida International
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MIAMI — The 21st-ranked Kentucky men’s soccer team will begin defense of its Conference USA regular season championship at last year’s Conference Tournament Champion Florida International on South Beach Saturday night.
More accurately the match will be played in Miami proper at the FIU Soccer Stadium. Nonetheless the locale for Kentucky’s league opener will be exotic and the opponent familiar.
Kentucky social media accounts will prove real time updates from pitch side. FIU will provide live statistics.
The setup
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
Kentucky will be playing a third C-USA match against FIU in a row dating to last November.
A Ryan Creel goal assisted by Grant Mook gave Kentuckyk a 1-0 win at The Bell to clinch the league title outright in the regular season finale last season. FIU flipped the scoreline six days later to knock UK out of Conference Tournament in Charlotte with a first-half penalty.
The Panthers went on to win the C-USA Tournament and earn the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Kentucky enters league play with a 2016 record of Won 3, Lost 1, Drew 1. Kentucky dropped its first match of the year last Saturday at Furman. Kentucky has wins over Marquette, Duquesne and Louisville and a draw v 2015 Ivy League Champion Dartmouth.
Kentucky has scored seven and conceded twice this year. Both goals UK has allowed have been on set pieces.
FIU will take the pitch on Saturday with a 2-2-1 record. The Panthers have beaten Wisconsin and College of Charleston, drawn Niagara and lost to Furman and North Florida. FIU has scored seven and conceded six times this year.
The precedent
UK is 8-4-1 against FIU all-time.
Kentucky won 1-0 the last time the two sides played in Miami in 2014.
Kentucky finished the 2015 C-USA regular season 7-0-1, becoming the fourth team in league history to go through the league undefeated. The Wildcats conceded one goal in league play last regular season.
In the last two seasons UK is 13-1-3 in C-USA regular season play.
UK Soccer in C-USA
Kentucky plays in C-USA in men’s soccer only. The Southeastern Conference does not offer men’s soccer as a sport. South Carolina is the only other SEC university that has a varsity men’s soccer team. The Gamecocks are also in C-USA.
