Women’s Soccer Kicks Off 2023 Campaign Thursday vs. EKU
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky women’s soccer (0-0-0) begins a new year for UK Athletics when the Cats host the Eastern Kentucky Colonels (0-0-0) on Thursday night at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex.
The contest is the first regular season event on the 2023-24 UK Athletics calendar and pits a pair of in state foes against one another for the third consecutive season.
Schedule t-shirts will be given away to the first 250 fans in attendance on Thursday night. Season tickets for all Kentucky soccer men’s and women’s home games can be purchased here, while single-game tickets are available here. The game will also be available on SECN+.
Kentucky is coming off a 7-9-2 record in 2022, which included a 4-0 win over Eastern Kentucky last August. Jordyn Rhodes, Maggy Henschler, Taylor Hattori and Lesley Kiesling all tallied goals for the Cats in the shutout victory, which improved UK’s record against the Colonels to 9-1-0 all-time.
Rhodes, Kiesling and Henschler are all back for the Wildcats in 2023 along with several other key returnees including a six-goal scorer a year ago, Úlfa Úlfarsdóttir.
Now in his second season at the helm, Kentucky head coach Troy Fabiano has bolstered his roster with a total of 23 new student-athletes. The group is comprised of 12 transfers and 11 freshmen and arrives at Kentucky with a combined 46 goals and 52 assists during their collegiate careers. Six of the 12 were all-conference award winners at their previous schools.
Earlier this week, Henschler, Marz Josephson, Anna Young and Payton Robertson were all selected to the SEC Preseason Watchlist, marking the first time for all four receiving the recognition. For Robertson, a fifth-year transfer from the University of Buffalo, the honor was her second award of the preseason. Robertson was also named to the United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch list for the 2023 season.
For the latest on UK Women’s Soccer, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKWomensSoccer, on Facebook and on the web at UKathletics.com.
