Kentucky women’s soccer received a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Monday after missing the tournament entirely last season.

The Cats were dominant in non-conference play, as they had their best start to a season in program history with a 8-0-0 record.

However, after, they finished with a 3-4-4 conference record and a loss in the first round of the SEC Tournament, leaving their potential seeding in question. 

Kentucky will host West Virginia in its first matchup of the tournament. The Mountaineers finished their season with a 12-5-2 record and went 8-2-1 in conference play, which was good enough to finish third in the Big 12. 

If the Cats make it past West Virginia, they will face either Notre Dame, which lost in the ACC Championship, or the Horizon League Champion Milwaukee, the former school of UK Head Coach Troy Fabiano.

The rest of the region is headlined by two SEC powerhouses in Arkansas and Mississippi State.

Arkansas received a No. 2 seed after finishing second in the SEC, but a loss to Texas in the second round of the SEC Tournament kept it from potentially being rewarded with a No. 1 seed instead.

Mississippi State headlines the region as the No. 1 seed after finishing first in the SEC with a 17-2 record. The Bulldogs are coming off of a loss to South Carolina in the SEC Tournament, but they still should not be overlooked by a Kentucky team that already lost to the Bulldogs once back in October.  

Tough opponents such as Stanford, Rutgers and Utah State also stand in the way of the Cats if they want to make it out of the region.

This season, Kentucky has gone 1-1-1 against ranked opponents, beating UCLA, tying with Auburn and losing to Mississippi State.

Kentucky is also 4-3-2 against tournament teams this season.  

 The Cats will begin tournament play this Friday as they host West Virginia at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. E.T and will air live on ESPN+.