Here’s the path ahead for Kentucky men’s soccer in the NCAA Tournament
After a season spent chasing school records set by the 2018 Kentucky men’s soccer team, this year’s Wildcat squad now knows its path to attempt to produce the best postseason in program history.
After winning the Conference USA Tournament over the weekend for the second time — with the first being in 2018 — Kentucky automatically qualified for the 48-team NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats were already surely a lock for the field after a stellar regular season that saw them rise as high as No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and lose only once. UK was ranked in all 12 editions of the poll this season.
But after winning the C-USA Tournament title, Kentucky’s path to matching the 2018 team — which made the deepest postseason run in school history when it reached the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals — became easier.
The full NCAA Tournament field and bracket was revealed Monday afternoon, with the Wildcats receiving a No. 9 seed. Only the top 16 teams in the field are seeded.
As a top-16 seed, Kentucky received a first-round bye for the tournament.
The Wildcats, with a 14-1-4 record, will play the winner of a first-round match between Akron and Santa Clara in the second round at the Wendell and Vickie Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington on Sunday at 7 p.m.
Akron, of the Mid-American Conference, went 9-5-3 overall this season while Santa Clara, of the West Coast Conference, was 11-1-4. Like UK, Santa Clara earned an automatic bid after finishing the regular season as the WCC champion. The WCC did not hold a conference tournament.
Thursday’s match between Akron and Santa Clara will be played at Akron.
Should seed lines hold through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky would play eighth-seeded Clemson of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the round of 16. Oregon State is the top seed in UK’s quadrant of the bracket.
The goal for the Wildcats this season will be to go where the program hasn’t before, to a College Cup, the Final Four of college soccer.
This season’s College Cup will be held in Cary, North Carolina, at WakeMed Soccer Park for the third straight time.
The national semifinals will be played on Dec. 10, with the NCAA championship match being played at 2 p.m. on Dec. 12.
Earlier this year, the rescheduled 2020 NCAA Tournament was held entirely in the state of North Carolina. That tournament was won by Marshall, one of UK’s rivals in C-USA, and marked the first national title won in a team sport by a C-USA school while affiliated with the league.
The NCAA Tournament begins Thursday and will consist of 47 matches across 24 days.
This year marks Kentucky’s 12th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
This story was originally published November 15, 2021 at 2:52 PM.
