Sebastian Conlon’s Save Sends Kentucky to SBC Semifinal in Shootout Win Over Coastal Carolina
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Wildcats (10-2-5, 7-1-1 SBC) advance to the semifinal of the 2025 Sun Belt Tournament in a 0-0 (6-5) penalty shootout win over No. 8 seed Coastal Carolina (3-9-2, 2-6-1 SBC) in a thrilling quarterfinal matchup at The Bell.
With the win over the Chants, the Wildcats will face the winner of the nightcap matchup between No. 4 Georgia Southern and No. 5 seed UCF on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the semifinal at The Bell.
Wildcat goalkeeper Sebastian Conlon came up with a crucial stop during the early going of the match, making a diving save, moving to his right to keep out Coastal Carolina attacker Loed Klaasen in the 10th minute.
The Wildcats would have a goal disallowed on the stroke of halftime in the 43rd, as a tap-in goal from defender Josh Gordon was taken off the board following another VAR review for offsides, keeping the scoreline deadlocked at 0-0. Less than a minute later, the Chants would create a goal scoring opportunity of their own but would result in the game’s second disallowed goal due to a handball from the Chants’ forward Angel Martin, as the scoreline would hold at 0-0 heading into the halftime break.
The second half would also prove to be scoreless, despite the Wildcats creating multiple scoring chances and hitting the woodwork with a shot from midfielder Agustin Lopez striking the right post. The 90-minute whistle would blow with the score still even at 0-0, as the match would move into extra time.
Neither team would find the back of the net in either of the 10-minute extra time periods, as the match would move into a penalty shootout in Lexington.
Alex Ruiz converted the first goal in the penalty shootout for the Wildcats, giving the home side a 1-0 lead following a miss from both sides in the first round of takers from the spot. In the third round, Conlon kept the score level at 1-1 following a Coastal goal with a save diving to his left for his first penalty save of the season.
The next penalty taker would be forward Isaiah Chisolm who buried a shot into the center of the net to reclaim a 2-1 lead for Kentucky. Kentucky and Coastal would trade penalty goals for the next four rounds, including goals from Gordon, Sinan Solmaz, Joaquin Brizuela and Oliver Stavdal.
In what would be the final kick of the night, Conlon came up big once again for the Wildcats with his second save of the shootout to send Kentucky into the SBC semifinal and seal a 0-0 (6-5) win in a thrilling shootout win at The Bell.
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