Kentucky men’s soccer (1-0) recorded its first win to open the 2024 season on Thursday evening, defeating Oral Roberts (0-1) 3-2 at The Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington
Isaiah Chisolm, Logan Dorsey and Oliver Stavdal scored three goals for the Cats over the Golden Eagles.
Following the women’s soccer team earning a 2-0 win over Detroit Mercy, the men’s team took the pitch to close out the evening’s doubleheader. In the first 11 minutes of the game, Chisolm, a sophomore from Yorktown, Virginia, shot a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the net for the first goal of the fall season. He was assisted by sophomore Josh Gordon.
With UK holding a 1-0 advantage, 11 minutes of play went by before the Oral Roberts scored a goal of its own as Omar Mora shot a ball from his left foot to the bottom right of the net with an assist by Jose Estrada. The score remained 1-1 from the remainder of the half.
Kentucky found its next scoring opportunity deep into the second half as senior forward Dorsey rolled in a ball to put the Cats up to 2-1 in the 76th minute. Sophomore Joel Gonzalez dropped the ball into the box, which was initially saved by the keeper before Dorsey was able to hammer it home. The opposition’s keeper then earned himself a red card amidst the celebration of the Kentucky goal, though Oral Roberts answered quickly with another goal of its own in the 78th minute. The ORU goal was scored by Mora — which was his second goal of the night — and was assisted by Luis Flores
With the 90-minute period ending, Kentucky had to act quickly in order to earn the victory and the freshman Stavdal earned the game-winning score thanks to an assist from Gordon and fellow freshman Bertil Alban.
The SportsCenter-Top-10-worthy goal was a right-footed shot sent from the top of the box directly into the upper left corner of the net.
The Wildcats will return to The Bell on Sept. 2 to host Virginia Tech as they look to earn another early season win. The match will raise awareness for pediatric cancer in partnering with All in For Miller, the Ronald McDonald House and the UK Children’s Hospital.
