Coming into the matchup on Oct. 2, Kentucky men’s soccer had not won a game, holding a record of 0-5-3. The squad had shown many signs of life throughout the season and just never could finish the game. That all changed for the Wildcats on Friday night.

Old Dominion started strong, scoring just three minutes into the game, playing like the No. 23 ranked team in the country. In the 21st minute, Kentucky responded with a goal from Agustin Lopez, helping the Wildcats take control of the game and score again just four minutes after.

Bertil Abram hit an absolute missile from just outside the box to give Kentucky the 2-1 lead. Things stayed this way at half, with UK carrying the momentum into the locker room.

The second half was back-and-forth for a while until Jason Purks of Old Dominion found the back of the net in the 72nd minute. Usually, this would be the point when Kentucky would lose motivation to keep fighting, but not this night.

Kentucky immediately responded in the 80th minute with a goal from Mats Brune. Minutes after that, Lopez found the back of the net again, with a missile from right inside of the box with just 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Kentucky would hold on and snag its first win of the year.

After the game, head coach Johan Cedergren was asked how it felt to get the team’s first win of the year, especially against a top-25-ranked team in the country.

“It feels good. It’s been a frustrating start, of course, and I think that there’s been several games we’ve played really well,” said Cedegre. “We have had nothing to show for it.”

When asked about the team’s resilience in this contest and how they kept fighting even after going down 1-0 early on, he responded, “I think it’s the law of averages. At some point, if you have a good performance, you’re going to get the result as well. I go back to how hard we worked over these last couple of weeks…we’re going to get through it together.”

It was a matter of everything finally coming together for the squad to pick up the upset win against Old Dominion. Up next, the Wildcats will head on the road to play Indiana.

Coach explained, “IU is a good program, and of course, fantastic, successful. Again, for us, it’s just that if we do the stuff we did today, we can beat anyone.”

Kentucky is trending in the right direction and has an opportunity to pick up another upset win in Bloomington on Oct. 6th. Set to start at 8:00 p.m. ET and will air live Big 10 Network.

Kentucky Men’s Golf traveled to Lake Forest, IL to face off in the Windon Memorial Classic in a two-day tournament, taking place on both Monday, Sept. 28 and Tuesday, Sept. 29.

The tournament was hosted by Northwestern at Onwentsia Club, where the Wildcats tied for 9th with the University of South Florida among 16 schools following the final round.

Kentucky ended with a team score of eight-over par.

On Monday, the Wildcats finished in 12th place at 14-over par to wrap up day one. Junior Jacob Lang finished in 12th place individually with a score of one-under par, shooting 72 in the first round and 67 in the second.

“This was a big week for Lang,” head coach Gator Todd said. “He’s been off his standard the first two events, but he looked in complete control this week. He was one hole and a few putts dropping from winning this tournament.”

In round one, Kentucky scored 289 and improved later in the day, with a 285 in the second round.

For day two, Kentucky came back and posted a season-best team total of six-under par. This improvement allowed the Wildcats to jump three spots on the leaderboard after day one. All four counting scores for Kentucky were at par or better for the first time this season.

“I’m really proud of the way we stepped up and finished today,” Todd said. “We haven’t been playing our best golf this fall and we challenged guys to find a way and they did. I thought today was the best round we’ve played so far this fall.”

Kentucky will host their first home event next week at the Lexington Country Club for the Cullan Brown Collegiate Tournament. It will take place all day on both Monday, Oct. 5 and Tuesday, Oct. 6.

On Sunday, Sept. 27, No. 3 Kentucky Volleyball swept the No. 7 Texas Longhorns at Historic Memorial Coliseum, moving the Wildcats to 2-0 in conference play.

Following the victory, junior outside hitter Asia Thigpen spoke on the team’s ability to maintain their intensity during high-pressure plays.

“As a player, I really burn myself on my intensity in every way that I can impact my teammates,” said Thigpen. She finished the match with 15 kills, two of which taking place in the last two points of the third set, securing the final score of 25-22 and earning the sweep.

Thigpen’s communication and passion throughout the game built up her teammates, giving Kentucky momentum whether she’s attacking or not.

The outside hitter also talked about always preparing for the next win and treating all games equally matters the most.

“I feel like for us just really treating every team the same.” said Thigpen when asked on carrying on the momentum. “Just playing to our Kentucky Volleyball standard.”

The Wildcats expectation to play at their elite level, whether the game is unranked or not, displays how much intensity Kentucky has built over the course of the season.

Additionally, the junior added that head coach Craig Skinner encourages the team to bring that intensity and confidence to every single match. Skinner instilling confidence and energy into this team over and over allows them to make aggressive plays and swing hard.

The Wildcats play next on the road at Auburn later this week, meeting on Friday, Oct. 2, for Kentucky’s third conference matchup. Start time is scheduled for 7:00pm ET.