Wildcats Earn First Win of the Season in Six-Goal Thriller vs. No. 23 Old Dominion
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Wildcats (1-5-3, 1-1-1 SBC) earned their first win of the 2026 season tonight in their return to The Bell in a 4-2 victory over the No. 23 Old Dominion Monarchs (8-3-0, 0-3-0 SBC).
Tonight’s win catapults the Wildcats into a share of second place in the Sun Belt Conference standings, with West Virginia, South Carolina and Marshall each holding a game in hand.
Old Dominion struck first in the fourth minute of the match with a goal scored by forward Lewis Rourke, his team-leading seventh of the season, to give the Monarchs an early lead.
In the 22nd minute, junior forward Bains Smith equalized for the Wildcats, coming off an impressive assist from Agustin Lopez inside the 18-yard box, to level the score at 1-1. Less than five minutes later, Bertil Alban scored his first goal of the season to give the Wildcats the lead in the 25th minute, with the assist coming from forward Thomas Nielsen.
The one-goal advantage would continue into the halftime break for Kentucky, marking the Wildcats first lead at the intermission since Aug. 24.
The score remained 2-1 in favor of Kentucky for the opening 27 minutes of the second half, until ODU’s Jason Parke scored his sixth goal this season to equalize for the Monarchs in the 73rd minute.
Less than two minutes later, the Wildcats reclaimed the lead thanks to the first goal of Mats Brune’s collegiate career in the 74th minute. The goal followed an attempt by forward Costa Iliadis that forced ODU goalkeeper Alexander Aguilar into a save before Brune cleaned up the rebound and placed it into the bottom corner of the net.
Agustin Lopez would put the exclamation point on the night for the home side in the 79th minute, also scoring his first goal of the season and securing the full three points for the Wildcats and their first win of the season.
Tonight’s match totaled six goals between the two sides, as well as 11 yellow cards issued, all coming in the second half of play. Kentucky controlled a 22-16 advantage in the shots department, but the Monarchs managed to record eight shots on frame to the Wildcats seven. All four goalscorers tonight for UK, including Smith, Alban, Brune and Lopez, each opened their scoring accounts for the 2026 season.
Freshman Benjamin Rasmussen once again came up big for the Cats between the posts, recording six saves on the night, improving his season total to 26.
The Wildcats will now face an upcoming three-match road trip, starting with a meeting against the No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers on Tuesday, Oct. 6 in Bloomington, Ind.
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