Kentucky men’s soccer (3-3-4, 1-0-2 Sun Belt) returned home after three road matches to continue conference competition against Old Dominion (4-4-2, 0-2-1 Sun Belt), which it defeated by a score of 1-0.

The match welcomed past Kentucky Wildcats back to The Bell for Alumni Night.

At halftime, Big Blue Nation honored the lives of Jason Bell and Jamal Shteiwi. Bell, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, played for the Wildcats from 1996-99. Shteiwi, a native of Cincinnati, represented the Wildcats from 2001-04.

The Wildcats entered the contest on the back of a defeat against historic rival Indiana.

Goalkeeper Ryan Jack won back-to-back Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week awards, though he broke his streak of three consecutive clean sheets to bring his junior season record to 1-1-2 in the loss to the Hoosiers.  

In the match with the Monarchs, Logan Dorsey scored the winning goal for the Wildcats in the 65th minute of the second half with an assist by Marqes Muir.  

“Tuesday was tough, it was a tough bus ride back. We got home late, so then having to reload and go again two days later is tough,” Kentucky Head Coach Johan Cedergren said. “Very happy with the performance today. I thought we played decently well, I think we have a lot more in the tank.”

Kentucky and Old Dominion hold an all-time series record of 8-2-2 (UK) with the first contest taking place in 2013 in the regular season. The conference rivals last went head-to-head in the 2023 season, which ended in a 1-0 Monarch win in Virginia.

Throughout the second half of the match, both teams started to get very aggressive with each other. Multiple yellow cards were handed to both teams, with one going to an ODU player and four going to Kentucky players.

Many different players stepped up in the match and took leadership roles throughout. 

“I thought Ryan Jack, goalkeeper, Harald Race, the center back, Marqes Muir is the team captain,” Cedergren said. “I thought the three of them led the defense really well. I thought Josh Gordan, both defending and attacking, was really good. And then both freshman center midfielders, so lots of the guys did really well, and especially when you consider that those are all freshman and sophomores, other than Ryan Jack, for sure. And of course, Dorsey scoring the game goal.”

The match was not without controversy, however, as Dorsey drew a penalty late in the contest that was later overruled, much to the chagrin of the Cats’ head coach.

The Wildcats will be returning to The Bell on Tuesday, Oct. 15, to take on Bradley at 7 p.m. ET.