CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina men's soccer team (3-3-5, 0-0-4 Sun Belt) returns to the pitch when the Chanticleers travel to Lexington, Ky., to face the No. 2/4 nationally-ranked and unbeaten Kentucky Wildcats (8-0-4, 3-0-2 Sun Belt) in Sun Belt Conference play.
COASTAL VS. KENTUCKY
Wednesday night's match will mark the fourth all-time meeting between the Chanticleers and Wildcats dating back to 2002. Kentucky holds a 2-1-1 lead in the series. The contest will be the third time the two teams have met in Lexington, Ky., with each team winning once.
CCU's lone win in the series came back in 2002 in the first match between the two squads, as the Chanticleers posted a 2-1 overtime win over the Wildcats.
CCU and Kentucky met twice last season, once in the regular season and again in the Conference USA Men's Soccer Championship Tournament. The first match was the regular-season opener in Conway, S.C., as the two teams finished in a double-overtime 0-0 draw. They met again in the C-USA Championship Tournament with the No. 15 Wildcats winning 3-1 to end the Chants' season.
LAST TIME OUT
Coastal Carolina hosted South Carolina in Sun Belt action on Friday, Oct. 14, as the two teams battled to a 1-1 finish. It was CCU's third consecutive draw and fifth overall on the season. It was also the Chants' fourth tie in each of their four conference matches.
Marcello Jones scored in the 56th minute on a double assist from
Alvaro Garcia-Pascual and
Eythor Kjartansson. That score held up until the 71st minute when the Gamecocks notched the equalizer.
CHANT TALK
Garcia-Pascual now has 16 points on the season to lead the Chants and is tied for the lead in the Sun Belt Conference.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Kentucky enters the match with an 8-0-4 overall record and stands at 3-0-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Wildcats sit atop of the conference standings with 11 points overall.
The Wildcats have four players with double-digit points on the year, led by Nick Gutmann with 17 points on four goals and nine assists, while Casper Grening (5 goals, 3 assists) and Eythor Bjorgolfsson (6 goals, 1 assist) have 13 points apiece. Ben Damge has five goals for 10 points on the season and was named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week two weeks ago with the Wildcats' first hat-trick in nine years in a 6-0 win over Georgia Southern on Oct. 9.
Links to watch the match live and for live stats can be found at
www.GoCCUSports.com.
For complete coverage of CCU men's soccer, follow the Chants on social media at @CoastalMSoccer (Twitter), Facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.
