‘We have so many players.’ Top-seeded UK soccer flexes offensive muscle in NCAA opener.
After 20 games, no defeats and now with a spot in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 secured for the third consecutive season, head coach Johan Cedergren isn’t sure what else there is to say, or what questions exist that he hasn’t already answered.
It comes with the wildly impressive territory in which Cedergren’s Kentucky men’s soccer team finds itself.
Kentucky — the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament — is the only undefeated team left in NCAA Division I men’s soccer, with a 15-0-5 overall record. The Cats have already won a pair of trophies this season: The Sun Belt Conference regular season and Sun Belt Conference Tournament titles, hardware earned during UK’s first season in the league.
UK has achieved this thanks to elite offensive versatility rarely seen before in Lexington, with Sunday night emphasizing this to an extreme extent.
After receiving a first-round bye, Kentucky began its national postseason run by throttling South Florida, 4-0, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in frigid conditions Sunday night at the Wendell and Vickie Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington.
The Cats will host Pittsburgh (10-4-5) at 6 p.m. Sunday at The Bell Complex in the Sweet 16.
“One through 25, I couldn’t be any more proud of them. They find a way to perform every single day in training and they find a way to perform every single game that we have,” Cedergren said.
GOAL: Kentucky takes a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute through sophomore midfielder Martin Soereide.
Ball squirted to a wide open Soereide in the penalty box, and he made no mistake with the finish.
1-0 Cats. pic.twitter.com/a8xSdfkHI1— Cameron Drummond (@cdrummond97) November 20, 2022
Three underclassmen (freshman Max Miller and sophomores Casper Grening and Martin Soereide) and fifth-year midfielder Clay Holstad provided the four UK goals.
Senior midfielder Nick Gutmann had two assists to boost his NCAA-leading total to 18 for the season, and freshman goalkeeper Casper Mols made three saves while recording his seventh (and third consecutive) shutout of the season.
It was a comprehensive performance from the Cats that confirmed their intentions on a deep postseason run.
Kentucky now boasts a plus-38 goal differential, the best in the country this season.
“Our front three, front four, are some of the best in the nation and this year we’re definitely better at putting away chances and getting a lead and then keeping that lead, instead of fighting (and) winning games 1-0 ,” Holstad said. “The past couple of years we’ve been working a lot on end product, final third, creating chances and I think it’s really showing this year.”
Kentucky’s best NCAA Tournament performance came in 2018, when the Cats reached the Elite Eight for the first and only time before losing at home to Maryland.
That season’s team was defined by the goal-scoring exploits of JJ Williams, who scored 18 goals before being selected in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft.
The scoring has been more spread out this season for Kentucky: Both senior forward Eythor Bjorgolfsson and Grening have scored 10 goals, and three other Wildcats (junior midfielder Enzo Mauriz, junior forward Ben Damge and Gutmann) have at least five.
“We have so many players ... it’s just nice knowing that we can count on them to do their jobs and that we don’t have to worry about trying to overcompensate or anything like that,” Holstad said while rattling off the names of his offensively-inclined teammates.
“There’s so many front-four players that we can sub in and out that are different and they look different,” Cedergren added.
Kentucky was without Bjorgolfsson for Sunday night’s NCAA Tournament opener after he received a red card during UK’s Sun Belt Tournament championship game win, which forced Bjorgolfsson to serve a one-game suspension against South Florida.
But a week of rest isn’t the worst thing for the 6-foot-3 target man, who has started 17 of UK’s 20 games this season and is often the focus of physical play from opposing defenders.
Kentucky and Pittsburgh to play for Elite Eight spot
Standing in between Kentucky and its second-ever trip to the national quarterfinals are the Pittsburgh Panthers, fresh off an emphatic 3-0 win Sunday at No. 16 Akron.
Pitt (10-4-5) began its NCAA Tournament with a home win over Cleveland State before going on the road to defeat the Zips.
French senior midfielder Valentin Noel leads Pitt with nine goals, and scored twice in Sunday’s win at Akron. French junior forward Bertin Jacquesson is second on the team with seven goals, and he scored a brace in the Cleveland State victory.
As a team, Pitt averages slightly more than two goals per game and allows about one goal per game.
Dutch senior goalkeeper Joe van der Sar stands 6-foot-1 and has played every minute in net for the Panthers this season, recording seven shutouts.
Clear path for Kentucky to make first College Cup
Aside from UK, only unseeded teams remain in Kentucky’s quadrant of the 48-team NCAA Tournament bracket.
The other three seeded teams in the quadrant — No. 8 Oregon State, No. 9 Lipscomb and No. 16 Akron — all lost at home Sunday.
That means Kentucky wouldn’t have to play another seeded team on its way to the College Cup, the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.
The other Sweet 16 matchup in UK’s quadrant will feature Western Michigan (16-2-2) against Portland (14-2-3).
Western Michigan won its first-round NCAA Tournament match at Louisville.
UK would also host an Elite Eight match against either school at The Bell Complex.
Kentucky to spend Thanksgiving together, watch World Cup
With Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament run extending into late November, the Cats will be spending Thanksgiving with each other in Lexington.
But this year’s holiday period also coincides for the first time with the FIFA men’s World Cup, which began Sunday in Qatar.
Cedergren said that UK players will practice Thursday morning, then celebrate Thanksgiving together and maybe watch some World Cup matches, including Brazil — the birthplace of UK graduate student defender Lucca Rodrigues — against Serbia in the opening group stage match for both teams.
Next match
Pittsburgh at No. 1 Kentucky
What: NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
When: 6 p.m. Sunday
Where: UK’s Wendell and Vickie Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington
TV: TBA
Records: Pittsburgh 10-4-5, Kentucky 15-0-5
Series: First meeting
