Kentucky men's soccer advances to Sweet 16 with 4-0 win over South Florida

Kentucky men’s soccer has made it to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 for the third straight year.

On Sunday night at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington, KY, the top-seeded Wildcats (15-0-5, 8-0-5 Sun Belt) took down South Florida (9-7-6) by a final score of 4-0 in the second round of the tournament. Kentucky came into the tournament as the lone undefeated team left in the country and will look to keep the streak alive.

The ‘Cats move on and will face Pittsburgh (10-4-5) in the Sweet 16 later in the week. The Panthers beat Cleveland State 2-1 in the opening round before upsetting No. 16 Pittsburgh in round two 3-0.

Cats are on to the next round!!#WeAreUK | #GBED pic.twitter.com/qwYry9qZzG

— Kentucky Men’s Soccer (@UKMensSoccer) November 21, 2022

Starting the match in sub-32-degree weather that would continue to drop as the night went along, both sides came out understandably cold early. It wasn’t until the 27th minute that Kentucky struck first off the boot of Martin Soereide, which he slotted in the lower right corner of the goal. South Florida was struggling to maintain possession but managed to prevent UK from adding another before the intermission.

CATS ARE ON THE BOARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

27' | Soereide gooooooaaaaaaaaal with assists from Damge and Mauriz

UK: 1
USF: 0#WeAreUK | #GBED pic.twitter.com/ALVxi00YQP

— Kentucky Men’s Soccer (@UKMensSoccer) November 20, 2022

Out of the halftime break, the ensuing 20 minutes would see Kentucky consistently on the verge of breaking the match wide-open. Constant scoring opportunities for the ‘Cats were thwarted until the 65th minute when Casper Grening broke the seal to make it 2-0. From there, UK began to dominate.

Clay Holstad would make it 3-0 in the 74th minute before Max Miller knocked one in to make it 4-0 just a few minutes later, which is how the game would end. Kentucky finished with 15 more shots on goal than South Florida and owned the possession battle.

Kentucky has never made it past the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament since the program began back in 1991. The only time the ‘Cats made it that far in the tournament was in 2018 when UK was knocked out by No. 11 Maryland 1-0. Longtime head coach Johan Cedergren took Kentucky to the second round in 2019, the Sweet 16 in 2020, and the Sweet 16 once again in 2021, when they fell to eventual champion Clemson.

On to the next one…