The Kentucky Wildcats men's soccer team is an intercollegiate

varsity sports A varsity team is the highest-level team in a sport or activity representing an educational institution. Varsity teams train to compete against each other during an athletic season or in periodic matches against rival institutions. At high schools ...

team of the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

(UK). Since the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) does not sponsor men's soccer (minimum four schools needed to sponsor a sport, only two offer it), the team has been associate members of other conferences. From 1995 to 2004, it was a member of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

. In 2005, UK moved men's soccer to

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

, creating a rivalry with fellow SEC member

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, which had rejoined the reunified conference that season. Both UK and South Carolina remained in C-USA men's soccer through the 2021 season, after which both programs left for the newly reinstated men's soccer league of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

. In 2018, Kentucky went 17–1–1 with wins against #6

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

and #2

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, both by a score of 3–0 at home. They finished 7–1 overall in conference play with their only lose coming on the road at

FIU Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest uni ...

2–3. The Wildcats won the C-USA Regular Season and Tournament Titles. They were the #3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, their highest until 2022. In 2022, Kentucky finished the regular season at 14–0–5 with wins against #10 Louisville and #21 Lipscomb at home, both by scores of 3–2. They also tied against #20

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

in Tulsa 1–1 and #7

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

in Lexington 1–1. All four of these games took place in a two-week span from September 6 to September 20. They finished 5–0–3 and Sun Belt Regular Season and Tournament Champions. They were awarded the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the first time in school history. The school has two major derbies, one in-state and one in their primary conference. * ''Governor's Cup'': Against in-state rival

, the traditional all-sports rivalry between Louisville (ACC) and Kentucky (SBC). * ''Big 12/SEC Challenge'': A four-way

rivalry among the four associate members whose conferences do not sponsor the sport.

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

and

Central Florida Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, in ...

, members of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

in other sports, form the "Big 12" half of the four-way derby. **

SEC Derby The SEC Derby is the set of matches between the University of Kentucky Wildcats and University of South Carolina Gamecocks men's soccer teams. A conference matchup since 2005, since the 2022 season, it has been a conference matchup in the Sun ...

'': The

side of the four-way derby, Kentucky's game against

, while neither are regarded as major SEC rivals in other sports, the two schools are the only SEC members that sponsor varsity men's soccer teams, which forms a conference derby. UK left the Mid-American Conference after the 2004 season when South Carolina rejoined the reunified Conference USA, in which it had last been a member in 1994 (when it was the Metro). The two schools moved men's soccer together to the Sun Belt Conference for 2022. Both schools have referred to the rivalry as the ''Southeastern Conference Men's Championship''.

Notable former players

Cyrus Margono Cyrus Ashkon Margono (born November 9, 2001) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Football Superleague of Kosovo club KF Dukagjini. Early life Margono was born in Mount Kisco, New York, United States on Nove ...

* Ilkka Jäntti * Andy Gruenebaum *

Riley O'Neill Riley O'Neill (born September 9, 1985) is a Canadian soccer coach and former player who serves as an assistant coach for Pacific FC. Club career On January 18, 2007 O'Neill was drafted by Colorado Rapids in the third round (36th overall) of the ...

* Michael D'Agostino * Barry Rice * Leon Jones * Jason Griffiths *

Callum Irving Callum Ernest John Irving (born March 16, 1993) is a Canadian professional association football, soccer player who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Canadian Premier League club Vancouver FC. He began his career playin ...

* Napo Matsoso * JJ Williams *

Aimé Mabika Aimé Mabika (born 16 August 1998) is a Zambian professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Zambia national team. Early life Born in Zambia, Mabika moved to the United States at age eight with his family, settling in Lexington, Ken ...

Brett Smith Brett Smith (born June 8, 1992) is an American former professional football quarterback. He played college football at Wyoming. He attended Leslie Middle School in Salem, Oregon from 2004 to 07 and later graduated from West Salem High School in ...

Jansen Wilson Jansen Wilson (born June 14, 2001) is an American association football, soccer player who plays for Louisville City FC, Louisville City in the USL Championship. Early life Personal Wilson was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky to parents Julie and ...

Honours

* Mid-American Conference tournament ** Winners (3): 1999, 2000, 2001 ** ''Runners-up (1)'': 1996

References

External links

* {{University of Kentucky 1991 establishments in Kentucky