The No. 15 UK men’s soccer team could not overcome an early deficit as the UAB Blazers upset the Cats 2-1 Saturday evening at BBVA Compass Field. 

This was UAB’s first win over a ranked opponent since October 2014. 1135 fans were in attendance for this match, which was a season record for the Blazers.

Those fans had reasons to believe in an upset early. In the 9th minute, Henrique Sposito put the Blazers up 1-0 with a shot that deflected off a UK defender and went in the net.

That goal was the first shot of the game for the Blazers.

Just 11 minutes later, Sposito scored another goal to increase the Blazers lead to 2-0. Phillip Makinde missed on a header shot, but Sposito was in the right place at the right time to kick in the chip shot goal for his team.

 This was the second time this season where UK was down 2-0 after the 20th minute in a Conference USA road game in as many games.

The Cats struggled to find their rhythm in the first half, allowing those two goals and only taking three shots themselves, none of which were on goal.  The Cats would go into halftime down 2-0

UK caught a stroke of luck in the 66th minute as one of UAB’s defenders scored an own goal, making the score 2-1. Charlie Reymann was credited with the assist. 

The Cats kept the pressure up for the remainder of the match; doing everything they could to score the equalizing goal.

Even though the Cats took six shots in the second half, they were unable to tie the match, ultimately losing to the Blazers.

With the loss, the Cats fall to 7-3-2 overall, 2-2 in conference play. 

The Cats will look to get back on track when they’ll take on Old Dominion Saturday, Oct. 15 at the Bell. The match will kick off at 7 p.m.