No. 18 Kentucky men’s soccer (10-2-4, 7-1-1 SBC) spoils Old Dominion’s (5-5-7, 1-3-5 SBC) senior night with a 1-1 draw.
Kentucky claimed the No. 1 overall seed in the Sun Belt Conference tournament with a previous win against Georgia State, but still had eyes on a win as it traveled to Norfolk, Va.
Both teams came out running fast as the first six minutes showed no true possession won by a single team until the Wildcats got off one of many great shots to come throughout the game.
The Wildcats offense looked poised under pressure as they kept moving the ball around and under control through Old Dominion’s heavy pressure that it applied.
Although the Monarchs ruined several Kentucky possessions with solid clears, Kentucky limited their time on the opposite side of the field.
Kentucky’s offense started getting it going with a goal from junior forward Isaiah Chisolm that barely snuck in giving the Wildcats a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute.
The offense eventually died down throughout the game, however, the star of the game, senior goalie Sebastian Conlon shined in the net with stunning acrobatic saves, snatching away at any chance for Old Dominion to pull away.
Coming into the game, Conlon had already tallied up 35 saves on the year, playing every minute of every game of the season so far.
In a span of eight minutes, Conlon made three incredible saves to keep the score at 1-0.
His saves included a high reaching jumping save, one while stuck in a one-on-one fast break with an Old Dominion forward Micah Wayland, and then a corner kick steal in the 39th minute spoiled any hopes for the Monarchs goal.
Conlon led the Wildcats to a 1-0 lead at half, shortly after a break they continued to show zero mercy on the defensive side.
The Wildcats defense had their goalies back, jumping to dismantle and frustrate Old Dominion players by getting all up in players faces, and kicking away anything in sight.
Conlon continued to do his thing, making two more great saves tying his season high of five saves in a game, which he did a couple weeks back when playing at Marshall.
As Conlon, the very experienced senior, who won 2024 Sun Belt goalkeeper of the year and First-team All-Sun Belt at James Madison, he brought his season total to 40 saves and looks to repeat and add up the accolades.
However, in the 74th minute of the match Old Dominion finally connected with a long-distance goal to tie it up at 1-1.
Chaos quickly unfolded as the game started to come to a close, as multiple Old Dominion players were given a double yellow and a red card soon after leaving Kentucky two men up for the final 1:35 left in game.
Kentucky could not capitalize with the man up situation, and the game ended up resulting in a 1-1 draw.
The Wildcats will host the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers as the No. 1 seeded team in round one of the Sun Belt Conference Championship at the Bell Soccer Complex on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025.
