Kentucky Men's Soccer Earns Last-Minute NCAA Tournament Bid

Fueled by a seven-match streak without any losses to close out the regular season, Kentucky men’s soccer barely scraped by to make the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats (7-7-4) received an at-large bid to get into the big dance, it was announced by the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Committee on Monday afternoon. Following a long wait, the ‘Cats were one of the final teams to be announced into the 48-squad field.

Kentucky won’t have to travel far for the first-round matchup as they’ll take on Xavier in Cincinnati, OH at Corcoran Field. The contest is scheduled for Thursday with a start time set for 7:00 p.m. EST. These two teams will meet in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in history. The winner will take on No. 2 Notre Dame on Sunday, Nov. 19.

Cats are going dancing! 😸🕺🪩🎉#WeAreUK | #GBED pic.twitter.com/nU7P888BXr

— Kentucky Men’s Soccer (@UKMensSoccer) November 13, 2023

Now receiving votes in the latest United Soccer Coaches Top 25 rankings, Kentucky is one of the many Sun Belt Conference teams that made the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The other programs to make the field include No. 1 Marshall, No. 5 West Virginia, No. 12 Central Florida, and James Madison. A complete bracket of the entire NCAA Tournament field can be found here.

How Kentucky snuck into the NCAA Tournament

During regular season play, Kentucky fell to then-No. 3 ranked UCF in a 1-0 result back on Sept. 29. That loss dropped the ‘Cats to a disappointing 3-6-0 on the season. But Kentucky would not lose another match until the Sun Belt Confernce Tournament semifinals.

In the midst of that run, the Wildcats would defeat Marshall and West Virginia — ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, at the time — in back-to-back matches during October. The postseason then saw the ‘Cats find a victory over James Madison before falling to Marshall in the semis of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. UK closed the season with a 4-1-4 record, just good enough to sneak them into the NCAA Tournament field.

Meanwhile, Marshall enters the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed while West Virginia sits at the No. 5 seed and UCF at No. 12. All three received first-round byes. James Madison will take on Pittsburgh in its first-round matchup this Thursday.

As for Xavier, Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament opponent will bring a 9-3-6 record (4-1-3 Big East) into the match after winning the program’s first-ever Big East Conference title last week, which earned them an automatic bid. The Musketeers were tied with Georgetown in the championship game on Sunday before winning the title in a shootout. This will be Xavier’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014.