‘Put us up against anyone and we can win.’ UK soccer takes aim at first NCAA title.
For Kentucky men’s soccer head coach Johan Cedergren, one of the barometers for a successful season is getting to be with his team for Thanksgiving because it means the Wildcats are still playing in the NCAA Tournament.
In non-COVID affected seasons, UK has still been playing over the Thanksgiving holiday just once in Cedergren’s time at UK (since 2012).
It came in 2018, when the best team in Kentucky program history reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament after winning both the Conference USA regular season and postseason tournament titles.
A victory on Sunday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament would give Cedergren a second Thanksgiving to spend with the Wildcats, and it would also keep his UK team on course to continue setting program records.
By winning the C-USA Tournament last weekend in Charlotte, N.C., for the second time — with the first being in 2018 — Kentucky automatically qualified for the 48-team NCAA Tournament.
On Monday, the Wildcats were given the No. 9 seed for the tournament. Only the top 16 teams in the field are seeded.
As a seeded team, Kentucky received a first-round bye for the NCAA Tournament and is guaranteed at least one home match.
UK’s second-round home match at the Wendell and Vickie Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington will be at 7 p.m. Sunday against Santa Clara, which defeated Akron, 2-1 in overtime, in a first-round match Thursday night at Akron.
The national seed and resulting first-round bye and second-round home match helps the 2021 UK squad attempt to match the exploits of that 2018 UK team, which made the deepest postseason run in school history.
This edition of the Wildcats — which broke the 2018 school record for the longest unbeaten streak to start a season (14 matches) —has built its stellar season around stingy defense and opportunistic scoring.
UK, 14-1-4 (W-L-D) overall this season, has recorded a defensive shutout in 11 of its 19 matches. All 11 shutouts have been recorded by graduate transfer goalkeeper Jan Hoffelner in 16 starts this season.
Hoffelner — a native of Germany who previously played at Iowa Western Community College, Presbyterian College and St. John’s — was named the C-USA Goalkeeper of the Year prior to UK’s run through the C-USA Tournament last week.
Kentucky’s defensive prowess this season has been aided by a veteran backline that includes three upperclassmen defenders: Grad student Lucca Rodrigues, senior Robert Screen and junior Luis Grassow.
“Jan is definitely one of the best goalkeepers I’ve ever worked with, and (he) was a great grad transfer to get in. But he also benefits from having one of the best back fours in the country in front of him,” Cedergren said, while noting that defending is a focus for the whole UK team. “I do think we do a really good job of making it easier for Jan in regard to saves and the balls that he has to deal with, but also his size and presence and experience on crosses and set pieces is something that we haven’t had in a while.”
Offensively, 13 different Wildcats have scored this season.
Of the 16 seeded teams in the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky is the team whose top scorer has the least goals.
But, three different Wildcats co-lead the team with five goals: Graduate student Luke Andrews, senior Daniel Evans and junior Eythor Bjorgolfsson, who scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Florida Atlantic in the C-USA Tournament title game.
“Going back to strength in numbers and the quality that we have in the group. I do think, again, when you’re able to rotate guys in and out of the lineup you just wear the other team down,” Cedergren said. “Having so many good attacking players and having the ability to rotate them in and out, I think it just creates different opportunities for different players.”
Santa Clara, UK’s opponent Sunday night, is led in scoring by senior forward Oladayo Thomas with nine goals. Thomas assisted on both of Santa Clara’s goals against Akron.
Sunday’s match is the only home game Kentucky is guaranteed in this season’s NCAA Tournament.
Should seed lines hold through the first two rounds, Kentucky would travel to No. 8 seed Clemson for a third-round match. Also in UK’s quadrant of the 48-team bracket is Oregon State, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.
Ahead of UK’s NCAA Tournament opener, the confidence exuded by Cedergren continues to match the confidence he’s shown in his team all season.
Kentucky won three matches in five days during the C-USA Tournament at Transamerica Field in Charlotte, the same location where UK suffered its only loss of the season on Oct. 30.
“They were very different games Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, but I think they taught us three different lessons,” Cedergren said of the C-USA Tournament experience. “I think we are much better prepared for Sunday now having played those games.”
At halftime of the championship match against FAU, UK was down 1-0. It was the first time all season that Kentucky had trailed after 45 minutes, and Cedergren admitted that UK was second-best in that opening half.
But just like for the 2018 team, a calling card for the 2021 Wildcats is squad depth, and the ability for UK to not sacrifice quality when player rotation occurs.
“Strength in numbers is something that we’ve used to our advantage all season. One through 25 have done a fantastic job all year,” Cedergren said.
While not necessarily predictive of future success, the experience of winning a postseason tournament against quality opposition right before starting another serves as evidence that Kentucky can perform under the pressure of the postseason.
“You put us up against anyone and we can win,” Cedergren said. “It’s just about making sure that we get that performance and reaching our potential on the day.”
Sunday
Santa Clara at Kentucky
What: NCAA Tournament second-round match
When: 7 p.m.
Live video broadcast: ESPN Plus (online only)
Records: Santa Clara 12-1-4, Kentucky 14-1-4
Series: First meeting
Tickets: $10 (age 19-64), $5 (age 3-18 and 65 and older), $4 (group of 15 or more), free (UK students and ages 2 and younger)
