UK to Contest SEC Men’s Soccer Championship v South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 7/6 Kentucky Men’s Soccer Team will put its unbeaten start to the season on the line Saturday against South Carolina at 7 p.m. ET.
On paper it’s round three of Kentucky’s Conference USA slate, but in colloquial terms Saturday’s matchup will be the Southeastern Conference Men’s Soccer Championship game.
UK and USC are the only two SEC schools that sponsor varsity men’s soccer so they both compete in C-USA as “affiliate members.”
GamecocksOnline will stream the match.
The setup
In effect, the two schools will be playing in soccer in Columbia while their gridiron football teams face off at mostly the same time in Lexington.
Kentucky’s won-lost-drawn record of 7-0-1 (2-0-0 Conference USA) is the best start in varsity program history. The Wildcats have shut out seven of eight opponents this season.
Kentucky is ranked No. 4 in the first edition of the NCAA Rating Percentage Index, No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches poll, and No. 6 by College Soccer News this week.
The opponent
South Carolina is seeking its first conference victory of the season. The Gamecocks are coming off a loss last weekend to Old Dominion. Currently, the Gamecocks sit at 2-5-0 overall and 0-2-0 in conference play.
South Carolina returned fourteen veterans and eight starters from last season.
Head Coach Mark Berson, who has led the Gamecocks since the start of the program, is the winningest active coach in the country. He has appeared in 22 NCAA tournaments and bred 13 All-Americans in his 40 years as head coach at South Carolina.
The deeper look at UK
Kentucky has allowed two goals this year – both against Lipscomb in a 3-2 overtime win.
UK has kept clean sheets in seven of eight matches so far. To ensure this, Sophomore Enrique Facusse tallied three saves on Wednesday night against ETSU, including a penalty kick in the sixth minute of the game.
Sophomore center back Aimé Mabika was named C-USA Player of the Week on Monday.
JJ Williams, who added two to his team-leading seven-goal season-total in a 3-0 win against East Tennessee State Wednesday night. Kalil ElMedkhar scored his third goal of the season midweek, and Mabika has contributed two goals thus far.
The history
Kentucky is 7-7-3 against South Carolina all-time. The Wildcats are 2-4-2 when playing in Columbia.
Mabika scored a late 1-0 winner against South Carolina last season at The Bell. The Gamecocks won 2-1 in 2016, the last time the two sides played in Columbia.
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For the latest on the Kentucky men’s soccer team, follow @UKMensSoccer on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
