LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 2 men’s soccer team in Kentucky (10-0-5, 4-0-3 Sun Belt) earned a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title and the opportunity to host the first two rounds of conference tournament with Friday’s 2-0 Senior Night win over Old Dominion (6-6-2, 3-3-1 Sun Belt) at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex.
The triumph concluded the regular season home schedule for Kentucky as its six seniors, Eythor Bjorgolfsson, Brennan Creek, Luis Grassow, Nick Gutmann, Justin Scharf and Isaac Walker, were celebrated by friends, family and the 1,488 members of Big Blue Nation.
Kentucky got off to a fast start with Casper Grening nearly scoring in the first 10 seconds of regulation. However, he netted one in the 15th minute, putting the Cats on the board with an impressive header into the top left corner of the net. He was assisted by Robert Screen and Gutmann, who had two exceptionally executed passes to go to the sophomore.
Gutmann recorded his second assist of the night with a cross to Bjorgolfsson, who slid the puck past the ODU keeper to seal the deal for the Cats in the 55th.th minute. The senior scored his eighth goal of the season and 22ndn.d of his collegiate career. The goal puts Bjorgolfsson in the top 10 all-time scorers for the program. A fellow senior, Gutmann’s two assists put him at 11. Before today’s game, he ranked T3 nationally in total assists and fifth in assists per game.
The 2-0 win marked his seventh clean sheet of the season with true rookie Casper Mols earning the shutout to improve his record in goal to 6-0-4.
Kentucky is one of three NCAA Division I men’s soccer programs still undefeated in the nation. The United Kingdom is joined by Washington and Duke on the list. The Wildcats look to close out the regular season undefeated next week by breaking a program record 15 game unbeaten streak that was set last season.
UK will host the first two rounds of the conference tournament November 6-7. More information will come from the Sun Belt Conference at the conclusion of the regular season on Tuesday.
The Wildcats close out the 2022 campaign at South Carolina on Tuesday for a game at 7:00 PM EST before deciding on the postseason.
For the latest in Kentucky’s Soccer, follow @UKMensSoccer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKAthletics.com.
