COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 5/3 Kentucky men’s soccer team will play its last non-conference road match of the regular season Tuesday at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET with BTN Plus paid subscription serviceset to stream the match.
The setup
Kentucky (10-1-1, 4-1-0 C-USA) bounced back from its first loss of the season on Oct. 7 with a win last Saturday against Marshall.
UK moved into a three-way tie atop the Conference USA table with 12 points from five games after Saturday’s victory.
Ohio State currently has started the season with a won-lost-drawn record of 1-10-2. No. 8 Michigan State edged the Buckeyes 2-1 at Owens Stadium last weekend.
The closer look at Kentucky
The Wildcats have allowed six goals in 12 games so far, with half of those having come from Kentucky’s only loss of the season, at FIU on Oct. 7.
UK’s .48 goals-against average is ranked fourth in the nation.
Sophomore goalkeeper Enrique Facusse has stopped 36 of the 42 shots he’s faced this year, good for an 86-percent save percentage, ninth best in the country.
Kentucky has scored 22 goals this year. Junior co-captain JJ Williams’ 10 goals in a three-way tie with FIU’s Santiago Patino and ODU’s Max Wilschrev for most in the league.
Sophomore Kalil Elmedkhar has four goals and six assists – a 13-point overall output that ranks fifth in the league.
The opponent
The Buckeyes have lost five in a row. In their last match, the Buckeyes equalized against No. 8 Michigan State in the 88th minute only for the Spartans to score a winner in the last minute.
Ohio State is lead by Head Coach Brian Maisonneuve. The first-year head coach was the former associate head coach at Indiana, where he helped the Hoosiers to the 2012 National Championship and a National Runner-Up finish last season.
The history
Kentucky trails the all-time series 4-5-4. The last matchup was at The Belllast October with Kentucky prevailing with a late goal to win 1-0.
The two teams last played in Columbus in 2014 with the match finishing in a 0-0 draw.
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For the latest on the Kentucky men’s soccer team, follow @UKMensSoccer on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
