Men’s Soccer Looking to Build off Strong Spring as 2017 Season Looms
Share
The Kentucky men’s soccer team wrapped up a spring campaign important to the program for a plethora of reasons with lots of positive signs to build on, important lessons learned and reason for optimism going in to the 2017 summer. After all, the fall season is just a few months away.
After the departure of seven seniors, UK Head Coach Johan Cedergren was left with 16 returners, three newcomers and a lot of uncertainty going into spring.
Despite inexperience, youth and relatively small squad, Cedergren looked back on the past four months as the most productive and fun spring season he’s had in his five years at Kentucky.
“This was the most enjoyable spring we’ve had at UK, hands down,” Cedergren said. “It was a good period not only because of the guys’ attitudes, but also because we got a lot done. More importantly, we got a lot better individually and as a group.”
In four spring matches, four Wildcats played their first game time in UK shirts. The Wildcats won one, drew two and dropped a match in four spring friendlies.
The on-pitch experience earned is often hard to come by, yet extremely valuable to development.
“We were really happy to get guys their first minutes and get guys who hadn’t played a lot some significant time,” Cedergren said. “As valuable as our daily training is, playing in games is the biggest developmental tool for us. That helped our returners and newcomers to get that familiarity under their belts going into the summer and fall.”
As the team heads into fall, Cedergren looked at perhaps the largest roster turnover he’s had in his tenure and a sizeable recruiting class coming to Lexington in August.
“Losing several guys who have started for their entire careers, including our three captains (departed seniors Napo Matsoso, Charlie Reymann and Jordan Wilson), we’re going to be re-tooling at some important spots. We are fortunate that we have a lot of talent who may not have cracked the lineup last year, but have worked hard though spring and are ready to contribute this fall.”
The team experimented with a system other than the steadfast 4-2-3-1 the Wildcats have deployed so consistently and effectively in recent seasons. While not ready to commit to any changes just yet, the Wildcats certainly wouldn’t be hurt by adding tactical diversity at least to have more options come August.
Led by new captains All-Conference USA selection Alex Bumpus and Landon Souder, the Wildcats will head into the 2017 off-season knowing they will return to campus in the late summer with a retooled team.
And speaking of summer soccer, Connor Probert is played for the New Zealand side that made the Round of 16 at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, and plenty of Wildcats will test themselves against elite competition with Premier Development League sides in the coming months.
Wildcats in elite summer soccer teams for summer 2017
Kevin Barajas—Tormenta FC, Statesboro, GA
Tanner Hummel—Tormenta FC, Statesboro, GA
Stuart Ford—Myrtle Beach Mutiny, Myrtle Beach, SC
Jackson Hawthorne—Tobacco Road FC, Raleigh, NC
Keyarash Namjoupanah—Cincinnati Dutch Lions, Cincinnati, OH
JJ Wiliams—Reading United AC, Reading, PA
Alex Bumpus—Columbus Crew U-23
Noah Hutchins—Columbus Crew U-23
Andrew McKelvey—Columbus Crew U-23
Connor Probert—New Zealand U-20s—U-20 World Cup
—
