By Clark Brooks

The UK men’s soccer team has certainly seen every possible scenario leading up to conference play this season. The Cats have traveled on the road to face a top 10 opponent, successfully defended their home turf, made clutch go-ahead goals late in games to clinch victories, endured two scoreless games going into double overtime and still managed to have a winning record.

The team hasn’t had any major injuries either. Having seen almost every possible situation in non-conference play, the Cats are ready for whatever Conference USA has to throw at them.

“The Conference USA is definitely one of the top leagues,” UK men’s soccer head coach Ian Collins said. “There are a good number of excellent teams and anyone can win on any given day.”

Collins feels the team is miles ahead of where they were last year. Injuries played a huge part in the team coming on later in the season and not being ready at the start of conference play last fall. UK had a terrible 2-7-2 record in non-conference games in 2007, but ended up third in C-USA. This year the Cats have improved to a 4-2-2 record outside of conference play, but UK’s offense has been struggling as of late.

“We started off very strong this year offensively,” junior midfielder Jason Griffiths said. “But lately, we have been playing bad. Coach Collins has had us work harder in practice about playing off the ball. I think it’ll all be ready for conference play.”

Defensively, the UK coaching staff believes the team is where it needs to be. The Cats have been training hard and improving their individual defending abilities.

“Everyone is working hard,” Collins said. “We have had decent preparation and pretty soon the team will be firing on all cylinders.”

“I think we are very good at tackling,” junior defender Barry Rice said. “We’re pretty good overall. We just need to work on our focus late in games and make sure we don’t give up any late chances.”

The team’s morale is very high heading into conference play. Most leaders think this team has what it takes to capture the conference title.

“If we do our best and accomplish our goals, there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to earn a ring,” Rice said.

Tulsa and Southern Methodist, however, might stand in the way of UK winning the conference. Both are consistently ranked in the top 25 and finish very high in conference standings.

“Everyone has a different style of play in this league,” Griffiths said. “Some teams play fast, others use strength. But, SMU and Tulsa are always the teams to beat. Once we start scoring and being consistent with our game, I think no one can stop us; not even them.”

The Cats start conference play against Marshall this Wednesday in Huntington, W.Va.  Collins feels his strikers will be ready to answer the call in conference play, despite their recent droughts. He looks for senior Michael Strong, junior Marco dos Santos and Rice to all have big games in the upcoming weeks and to finish their chances to score. But, he believes the team needs to learn from those who have experience in conference play to match expectations.

“Experience will be huge this year,” Collins said. “We have a great deal of players who know how to push others hard to win. Rice, Griffiths, Williams, dos Santos, and Strong will all be our big players down the stretch.”