No. 3 UK Men's Soccer Begins NCAA Tournament Sunday v No. 21 Portland
LEXINGTON, KY. – The No. 3 Kentucky men’s soccer team will open up in the NCAA Tournament against Portland in the second round on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET. at The Bell.
Tickets for Sunday’s match are available at UKathleticstix.com.
UK students who show their UK student ID at the tent outside The Bell on match day will receive a ticket paid for by UK Athletics.
The match will be streamed live on SEC Network+/WatchESPN.
The setup
Kentucky – winner of Conference-USA’s automatic bid — received a bye through Thursday’s first round of the 48-team tournament after earning a top-16 seed when the field was announced on Monday.
UK is the No. 3 overall national seed, meaning The Wildcats would be in line to host each of the three rounds before the College Cup should they win those matches.
Portland defeated UCLA 1-0 in the first round on Thursday in the Rose CIty.
Kentucky, with a won-lost-drawn record of 17-1-1, won its eighth match in a row to capture the C-USA Tournament last weekend. Kentucky won the C-USA Regular setting a new program record for single-season victories.
UK is the No. 3 seed – a program record, while Portland is unseeded entering the tournament.
Wake Forest is the No. 1 seed, while UK has a pair of 3-0 victories against No. 2-seed Indiana and No. 4-seed Louisville.
Kentucky is 4-0 against teams ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Top-25 at the time of the match this season.
Kentucky last advanced in the NCAA Tournament in 2003 against Cincinnati on penalty kicks. UK’s last outright victory occured in 2001 against Mercer.
UK’s best NCAA result was reaching the Sweet 16 in 2000.
UK earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in Head Coach Johan Cedergren’s seven-year tenure.
The opponent
Portland, ranked No. 21 in this week’s United Soccer Coaches poll, is now 12-3-3 on the season. The Pilots finished fifth of eight teams in the West Coast Conference on 10 points.
Portland is 2-3 in its last five matches.
The Pilots are making their 16th NCAA Tournament appearance having made the College Cup in 1988 and 1995.
The closer look at UK
UK is ranked a program-record No. 1 in the College Soccer News poll and No. 3 in the Coaches’ poll. UK is No. 5 in the RPI.
UK went into the NCAA Tournament with the nation’s No. 3 GAA (.46). UK has kept a nation-leading 13 clean sheets, which is the program record.
UK ranks sixth nationally in total goals.
Kentucky has scored 43 and conceded nine goals to date.
C-USA Player of the Year and Offensive MVP, JJ Williams increased his new school record of most points in a season (two for goal, one for assist) to 38 with his match-winning goal against Charlotte.
His 16 goals rank third in the nation, and his nine game winners are the second most in Division I. He’s a goal away from tying Riley O’Neill’s UK single-season record (2006).
Enrique Facusse enters the NCAA Tournament with a .47 individual goals against average, which ranks fourth in the nation entering the weekend. He saved 52 of 61 shots this season, 86 percent, which ranks in the NCAA top-10.
Kalil ElMedkhar assisted Williams’ winner in the C-USA final. He has 10 assists this year tied for the second most by a Wildcat in a single season.
Kentucky is 10-0 at The Bell in 2018.
The quote
“It’s amazing to be in our situation,” Williams said. “Going in with the season we’ve had, with our great group of guys to have gotten some of the results we have gotten. But I also think that we’re not done yet.
“The really big thing we have to focus on is we’re happy with how the season’s gone so far, but we can’t get complacent. We can’t be satisfied because the most important part of our season is yet to come.”
The history
Portland leads the all-time series 1-0 having won 2-1 in overtime in 2003 at a neutral site.
UK is making it’s ninth NCAA Tournament appearance in its history, and is 1-8-2 all-time in The Big Dance.
UK is 0-4-1 at home all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
The logistics
All pre-purchased tickets will be available via digital delivery. Instead of receiving printed tickets, ticket purchasers will be able to access their tickets electronically through My UK Account or the UK Athletics app.
Game day ticket sales open at 2:30 p.m. ET and gates to The Bell open at 3 p.m.
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For the best coverage of UK men’s soccer follow the team’s social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in addition to on UKathletics.com.
