By Kevin Erpenbeck

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In my preview column for the 2014 UK women’s soccer season, I wrote that this year should be viewed with optimism and could set the standard for the program for years to come.

It’s now the end of the regular season, and the Cats have a No. 3 seed heading into their fourth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance on Saturday. That preseason-level of optimism has been fulfilled and a standard of success is being set.

No. 15 UK will face Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in the first round of the tournament and is considered a heavy favorite in the match. Considering UK’s national ranking and the fact that the game will be at the Bell Soccer Complex, anything but a UK win will be a surprise.

There was a point in the year, however, when the preseason projection for the Cats looked laughable. They had a 7-5 record in the beginning of October and looked dead in the water when it came to earning an at-large bid for the tournament.

Even head coach Jon Lipsitz struggled to see optimism in the midst of the team’s woes.

“Our RPI was 59 at that time,” Lipsitz said. “I told the team that we’re not in the NCAA Tournament, and we’re not even on the bubble.” It was a thought that senior leader Arin Gilliland shared, recalling that she told her teammates the season was over.

Lineup changes were made, attitudes were altered and an inner strength was displayed as the Cats focused on turning their season around. UK didn’t lose a single regular season game after that, beating three nationally ranked teams in the process. The Cats continued to win in the SEC Tournament, making it all the way to the conference championship game for the first time since 2006.

Despite failing to win the SEC, optimism has returned to the team and a standard of consistent success was set for UK women’s soccer.

The 2014 seniors will leave UK as the most successful class in program history, earning an NCAA Tournament appearance in every year they played. Gilliland is the most decorated player it’s ever had and she will leave an astonishing legacy behind, along with the rest of her senior teammates.

However, the legacy isn’t complete. The standard has been set by this year’s Cats and when the season looked like a bust, they showed the strength that’s expected of UK women’s soccer and rallied to earn a national seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in UK history.

Winning their first tournament game is expected of the Cats. With the seed advantage in the first two rounds, they have a great opportunity to take UK where it’s never been before: the third round of the NCAA Tournament.