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KENTUCKY SOCCER
ANNOUNCES 2010 SCHEDULE
2010 Schedule to Feature 11 Home Dates; UK Hosts IU, UL, Loyola
Marymount and South Carolina
UK Media
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- After posting its second consecutive season with 12
or more wins last year, the Kentucky men’s soccer team will play
a challenging 2010 schedule, including 11 home dates at the UK Soccer
Complex, UK head coach Ian Collins announced Tuesday.
“We are looking forward to the season and a challenging 2010
schedule,” Collins said. “In order to prepare us for the
conference schedule and also to put us in a position for a bid into the
NCAA Tournament, it is important to face a tough non-league schedule.
Having non-league matches against Loyola Marymount, Connecticut,
Indiana, Michigan, Evansville, Iona and Louisville will certainly help
our team if we can get results.”
Kentucky (13-6, 5-3 Conference USA in 2009) will play 20 total games,
including two exhibition matches in 2010. The Wildcats will host a
total of 11 games at the UK Soccer Complex, including two invitational
tournaments to open the season.
“We consistently rank among the NCAA leaders in attendance and it
is always very important to us when we are making the schedule that we
have some good home matches at the UK Soccer Complex,” Collins
said. “With several good teams coming to Lexington like Loyola
Marymount, Louisville, Indiana, South Carolina and Memphis among
others, fans should get to see some high-quality performances
throughout the season.”
The Wildcats will begin the season with a pair of exhibition games,
traveling to Dayton, Ohio, to face Dayton in an exhibition on Aug. 23.
UK will then wrap up the preseason schedule with a match on Aug. 28
against Marquette, scheduled for 1 p.m. ET at the UK Soccer Complex.
Kentucky will open the regular season with back-to-back invitational
tournaments, hosting the UK Invitational Tournament on Sept. 3-5
– featuring IUPUI, UNC Asheville and Eastern Illinois – and
the Kentucky Invitational on Sept. 10-12, including Houston Baptist,
Butler and Loyola Marymount.
Following the two home opening tournaments, UK will travel to Columbia,
S.C., to participate in the South Carolina Gamecock Classic. UK will
face UConn at 5 p.m. ET on Sept. 17 to open the tournament, wrapping it
up with a match against Iona in Columbia on Sept. 19 at noon.
The Wildcats will then hit the road for four of the next five matches,
going to Michigan (Sept. 22 – 7 p.m.) and Evansville (Sept. 26
– 3 p.m.), before hosting Louisville in an annual rivalry tilt on
Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. at the UK Soccer Complex.
Following the game with the Cardinals, UK will open conference play
with back-to-back C-USA matches at Marshall (Oct. 6 – 7 p.m.) and
at UAB (Oct. 9 – 8 p.m.). The Wildcats will then return to
Lexington for a four-game homestand, hosting league foes UCF (Oct. 13
– 7 p.m.), Memphis (Oct. 17 – 1 p.m.) and FIU (Oct. 24
– 1 p.m.), hosting traditional power Indiana in a non-league
match on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. UK will then hit the road for back-to-back
challenging conference matches at Tulsa (Oct. 27 – 8 p.m.) and at
SMU (Oct. 30 – 8 p.m.). The Wildcats will complete the regular
season by hosting the Gamecocks at 1 p.m. on Nov. 7.
The C-USA Tournament will be held at the site of the regular-season
champion, hosted last season by league champion Tulsa.
UK returns its leading scorer from last season, sophomore Matt Lodge,
who led UK with 14 points (six goals, two assists) as a freshman last
season.
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