Wildcats Host UCF in SBC Tournament Semifinal on Wednesday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Wildcats (10-2-5, 7-1-1 SBC) will play host to their second Sun Belt Conference Tournament match against No. 5 seed UCF (8-6-3, 4-3-2 SBC) in a rematch at The Bell on Wednesday night.
The Wildcats advanced to tomorrow night’s semifinal matchup with a win on Sunday afternoon against the No. 8 seed Coastal Carolina in a 0-0 (6-5 PKs) win in a penalty shootout. Goalkeeper Sebastian Conlon’s game-winning save, his second of the shootout, from Coastal’s Jimson St. Louis penalty attempt sealed the victory for Kentucky and put the Cats one win away from reaching the conference final.
In their first meeting of 2025, the Wildcats defeated UCF 3-2 in the Sun Belt opener on Sept. 19 in Lexington. Kentucky received goals from Isaiah Chisolm, Sinan Solmaz and Bertil Alban, coming off assists from Alex Ruiz, Bains Smith and Luke Shreiner, to lift the Cats over the Knights, improving the all-time series record over UCF to 7-5-2.
UCF advanced to the semifinals of the SBC Tournament with a 3-2 win in extra time over No. 4 seed Georgia Southern in Lexington. The Knights fell behind 2-0 early in the second half after a goal from the penalty spot from the Eagles’ Harry Dale in the 64th minute but would even the score at two with a pair of goals in the 64th and 67th minutes.
The second match in Lexington would also go into extra time after the two sides were still even at two after 90 minutes. In the second period of extra time, the Knights broke through the Georgia Southern defense for a game-winning goal in the 104th minute from Drew Hansen, sending UCF into the conference semifinal.
Kickoff for Kentucky vs. UCF is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, streaming on ESPN+. For tickets to tomorrow night’s semifinal matchup at The Bell, go to https://www.gofevo.com/group/2025sunbeltsoccer.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s soccer team, follow @UKMensSoccer on X, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKAthletics.com.
