Men's Soccer
Napo Matsoso - Men's Soccer - University of Kentucky Athletics 7

NapoMatsoso

  • height 5-6
  • Weight 138
  • class Sophomore
  • High school St. Francis
2016: NSCAA All-American (Second Team), 2016 First-Team All-Conference USA, 2016 NSCAA First Team All-Southeast Region, C-USA Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
2015: First-Team All-Conference USA, NSCAA First Team All-Southeast Region
2014: First-Team All-Conference USA, NSCAA First TEam All-Southeast Region
2013: Conference USA All-Freshman Team
Career Capsule: One of the best attacking midfielders in school history, finished his career with 19 goals and 20 assists … A four-year starter getting into the first 11 in all 73 games he played in … Proved to be one of the nation’s best creative midfielders from his arrival on campus, but improved his finishing as his career progressed … Scored eight game-winners, including three in both his junior and senior seasons

2016 (Senior) 
NSCAA Second-Team All-American … First-Team All-Conference and All- Southeast Region … Started in all 19 of Kentucky’s matches, leading the Wildcats with 20 points on eight goals, three of which were game-winners, and four assists … All his goals came in multi-goal game performances … One of the most influential attacking midfielders in the country … captained Kentucky to the No. 16 national seed and a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament … A First Team All-Conference USA selection for the third season running … First-team All-Conference

2015 (Junior)
First Team All-C-USA … NSCAA All Southeast Region … Led the team in points (14) scoring four goals and assisting six times … The central figure in an opportunistic offense, which helped UK to an undefeated 7-0-1 mark in C-USA play … C-USA Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 12 after he had a hand in all four goals, netting one and assisting the other three, in Kentucky’s 4-1 win over Evansville Oct. 7 … Had a team-high three game-winning goals, including a wonder-strike in the last 10 minutes to give UK a 1-0 win at Marshall … Missed UK’s first-round C-USA Tournament and NCAA Tournament games for the second year in a row, this time with a lower body injury.

2014 (Sophomore)
First-team All-Conference USA … C-USA Offensive Player of the Week (10/27) after netting the 10th hat trick in program history in a win at South Carolina … Was forced to miss UK’s NCAA Tournament opener vs. Oakland due to caution accumulation, earning two yellow
cards in UK’s regular-season finale … Had assist on the golden goal vs. Xavier, also notching assists vs. Marshall and Evansville … Nettted UK’s game-winning goal vs. Marshall and added a go-ahead goal vs. No. 7 Charlotte … Finished season with five goals and four assists … .. Did not play in the C-USA Tournament or NCAA Tournament due to card suspensions

2013 (Freshman)
Played and started all 20 games at midfield for the Wildcats as a true freshman … He and Steven Perinovic were the only UK players to start all 20 games in 2013 … Logged 1720 minutes, which ranked second on the team behind only Perinovic … Played the full time in 16 of the 20 games … Finished with one goal and five assists … His five assists ranked second on the team … Fired 32 shots with nine on goal … Recorded his first career goal vs. IPFW, while also posting a season-high six shots … Collected a season-best two assists in a 6-1 win vs. Florida Atlantic … Named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team.

Pre-College
Matsoso joined UK after spending high school at St. Francis High School under the coaching tutelage of Ralph Marshall … Played with the club team Rovers Youth Academy and head coach Nathan Pitcock … Matsoso was named MVP at St. Francis his freshman year by scoring a staggering 29 goals and dishing out 19 assists … The club season in 2009 was a successful one for Matsoso as he helped to lead his team to a State Cup final… The next season for St. Francis, Matsoso netted 16 goals and 10 more assists … Another State Cup playoff for Matsoso ended a game shy of the finals when his team was defeated in the semi-finals … During Matsoso’s junior season, he found the back of the net 12 times, while connecting with a teammate for nine assists on the way to being named Most Outstanding Player and receiving first-team all-state honors … His senior campaign ended with 15 goals scored and eight more assists … A member of the Lesotho national team.

Personal
Full name Napo Davis Matsoso … Son of Marc and Pam Maguire … Born  in Maseru, Lesotho … Has a five brothers, James (22), Lepe (21), Sunny (21), Marc (19), and Setho (18) …Brother Lepe played on the Northwestern University soccer team, Sunny played for Maryland University and James plays for Mount St. Joseph’s College in Ohio … Father, Marc attended Kentucky as well as his older brother Marc who is currently enrolled at UK … Active in the community by helping at the Americana Community Center in 2009 and 2012, The Falls of Ohio in 2010 and 2011 … Major is communication.

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