Kentucky men's soccer ranked No. 2 in country for first time ever

The undefeated Kentucky men’s soccer program (8-0-2; 3-0-1 Sun Belt) is off to the best start in program history.

On Tuesday afternoon, the United Soccer Coaches updated its national rankings where it had the Wildcats ranked No. 2 in the country for the first time in school history. Kentucky is also ranked No. 1 in the country in terms of RPI. The ‘Cats are set to host No. 16 Dayton (8-0-3, 2-0-3 A-10) at 7:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday night at The Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex.

Kentucky has been dominant so far this season under head coach Johan Cedergren, who is now in his 10th season with the program and has three Conference USA Coach of the Year awards under his belt. UK has made the NCAA Tournament in eight of Cedergren’s 10 years in Lexington and he’s the fastest coach to 100 career wins with the ‘Cats.

Cedergren’s found plenty of success at Kentucky, but he might have his most talented group to date — and that’s taking into account his 2021 team that won the school’s second-ever C-USA Tournament title. He is now hunting a third-straight Sweet 16 berth, and hopefully more. UK is 4-0 against ranked opponents this season and has already bested in-state rival Louisville in what was a top 10 matchup.

Kentucky is coming off its most recent win against Georgia Southern on Sunday, a 6-0 landslide victory for the ‘Cats. Junior Ben Damge was named Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his three-goal performance, the program’s first hat trick since 2013.