2023–24 Kentucky Wildcats men's club soccer team

2023–24 Kentucky Wildcats men's club soccer
2023–24 Kentucky Wildcats men's club soccer
Clemson Socctoberfest, Finalist
SCSA, Mountain North champion
SCSA Regional Tournament, Group Stage
Conference	Southeast Collegiate Soccer Alliance
	Mountain North
Record	10-3-4 (4-1-1 SCSA)
Head coach	Johnny Kirkpatrick (1st season);
Assistant coach	Johnny Nitti (2nd season)
Home stadium	University of Kentucky's Competitive Sports Field; Lexington, Kentucky
	Seasons ← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023-24 Kentucky Wildcats men's club soccer team represented the University of Kentucky as a part of the Mountain North division of the Southeast Collegiate Soccer Alliance (SCSA), one of six national regions formed to help determine bids to the NIRSA National Soccer Championships. The team played its home games in Lexington, Kentucky and will played against other non-varsity collegiate teams across the country.^[1]

Due to issues in the division, there was debate regarding who was the true divisional champion. While UTK "A" only lost to UK and UK lost to Tennessee Tech and, due to the forfeit ruling, tied Vanderbilt meaning they technically dropped 5 points while UTK "A" only dropped 3 points. However, UTK "A" played one less game due to confusion over who considered a divisional member. Both teams have self-proclaimed that they were 2023 Mountain North champions.

Roster[edit]

2023–24 Kentucky Wildcats men's club soccer team
Name	#	Position	Class	Year
Sam Wakeman	0	Goalkeeper	Sophomore	2nd
Cade Spurlock	00	Goalkeeper	Freshman	1st
Grayson "G-Bot" Collins	2	Center back	Sophomore	2nd
Ben Prince	3	Outside back	Junior	2nd
Holden Kinsman	4	Outside back	Freshman	1st
Badr Alalwani	7	Center mid	Sophomore	2nd
Johnny Kirkpatrick	8	Center mid	Senior	4th
Hunter Sekelsky	9	Striker	Sophomore	1st
Marcos Ayele	10	Center mid	Junior	3rd
Gonzalo de Gracia	11	Outside mid	Junior	3rd
Johnny Nitti	12	Outside back	Junior	3rd
Jacob Allum	13	Outside mid	Sophomore	2nd
Jacob Smith	14	Center back	Junior	3rd
Kalen Stockton	16	Striker	Sophomore	2nd
Hayden Barzoff	17	Outside back	Sophomore	2nd
Beni Ntagaramba	18	Outside back	Junior	1st
Aiden Bryan	20	Outside back	Sophomore	1st
Evan Grill	23	Outside back	Sophomore	2nd
Ryder Kohl	31	Outside back	Freshman	1st
Spencer Baker	32	Goalkeeper	Freshman	1st
Seckou Drame	33	Outside mid		1st
Adam Cassol	34	Striker	Sophomore	2nd
Eugene Renner	45	Center back	Sophomore	1st
Grant Krump	61	Center Mid	Sophomore	1st
Kevin "Kevinho" Gliatis	69	Striker	Sophomore	2nd
Aiden "Aidinho" Leonard	77	Striker	Sophomore	2nd
Morgen Hammer	88	Center mid	Freshman	1st
Pierce Bergin		Outside mid	Junior	3rd
Ryan Hughes		Outside mid	Junior	3rd
Ben Thackston		Center mid	Junior	3rd
Kristian Martinovic		Outside back	Sophomore	1st
Clement Nshimiye		Forward	Sophomore	1st
Norton Morais			Junior	1st
Fred Kpoto		Striker	Sophomore	1st
Jack Hercules				1st
Ares Marlonsson		Striker	Graduate	1st
AJ Leone			Freshman	1st

Schedule and results[edit]

Date	Opponent	Result	Record W-L-D	Goal scorer(s)	Location
Friendly
September 9, 2023 6pm EST	Xavier	W 9-0	1-0-0	- Marcos Ayele x4 - Aiden Leonard x2 - Sekou Drame - Adam Cassol - Leon Görgen	Cincinnati, Ohio
SCSA Regular Season
September 10, 2023 12pm EST	Tennessee "A"	W 5-2	2-0-0	- Hayden Barzoff - Kevin Gliatis x2 - Fred Kpoto (PK) - Hunter Sekelsky	Lexington, Kentucky
September 16, 2023 11am CST	Tennessee Tech	L 1-2	2-1-0	- Hunter Sekelsky	Cookeville, Tennessee
September 16, 2023 1:30pm CST	MTSU	W 5-0	3-1-0	- Seckou Drame - Kevin Gliatis x2 - Morgan Hammer - Gonzalo de Gracia	Cookeville, Tennessee
October 1, 2023 12:00pm EST	Tennessee "B"	W 4-0	4-1-0	- Aiden Leonard x2 - Gonzalo de Gracia - Seckou Drame	Lexington, Kentucky
Unplayed^[a]	Vanderbilt	T 0-0	4-1-1	N/A	N/A
Friendly (Associate members)
October 8, 2023 3:00pm EST	NKU	W 8-3	5-1-1	- Gonzalo de Gracia x2 - Fred Kpoto x2 - Evan Grill - Kalen Stockton - Seckou Drame - Hunter Sekelsky	Highland Heights, Kentucky
October 15, 2023 5:00pm EST	Louisville	L 0-1	5-2-1		Louisville, Kentucky
Clemson Socctoberfest
October 20, 2023 9:00pm EST	NC State Group stage	W 2-1	6-2-1	- Seckou Drame - Hunter Sekelsky	Clemson, South Carolina
October 21, 2023 1:30pm EST	Clemson A Group stage	W 2-0	7-2-1	- Gonzalo de Gracia - Kevin Gliatis	Clemson, South Carolina
October 21, 2023 6:00pm EST	Georgia Group stage	W 3-0 (Forfeit)	8-2-1		Clemson, South Carolina
October 22, 2023 9:00am EST	Louisville Semifinals	W 3-0	9-2-1	- Hunter Sekelsky - Gonzalo de Gracia - Kevin Gliatis	Clemson, South Carolina
October 22, 2023 1:00pm EST	NC State Finals	L 1-2	9-3-1	- Hunter Sekelsky	Clemson, South Carolina
SCSA Regular Season
October 22, 2023 1:00pm EST	UT-Chattanooga	W 3-2	10-3-1	- Aiden Leonard x2 - Morgen Hammer	Chattanooga, Tennessee
SCSA Regional Tournament
October 22, 2023 1:00pm EST	UNC-Wilmington	T 1-1	10-3-2	- Hayden Barzoff	Henrico, Virginia
October 22, 2023 1:00pm EST	Georgia Tech	T 1-1	10-3-3	- Grant Crump	Henrico, Virginia
October 22, 2023 1:00pm EST	Florida	T 1-1	10-3-4	- Ryder Kohl	Henrico, Virginia

^ Initial double header in Lexington scheduled on September 23rd between Vanderbilt and UT-Chattanooga was cancelled due to inaccessible field space. The game against Vanderbilt was unable to be replayed and the game was recorded as a 0-0 tie

Regional rankings[edit]

Regional rankings began on September 18 and were released every seven days. Only the top 10 teams from each gender group for each region were released and were based on RPI from games exclusively played against other SCSA teams. The final ranking, the seventh week, was released after the regional tournament and was used to determine national tournament bids.^[2]

Week	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Rank	6	9	6	4	9	6	6

Note[edit]

Many details obtained through UKMCS's Instagram, but generally unreliable and therefore uncited.

References[edit]

^ "League Policies". Southeast Collegiate Soccer Alliance. 2023-08-11. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
^ Granholm, Cory. "Weekly Rankings". NIRSA Play. Archived from the original on 2023-05-25. Retrieved 2023-08-13.

[Tie-2] Initial double header in Lexington scheduled on September 23rd between Vanderbilt and UT-Chattanooga was cancelled due to inaccessible field space. The game against Vanderbilt was unable to be replayed and the game was recorded as a 0-0 tie

[1] "League Policies". Southeast Collegiate Soccer Alliance. 2023-08-11. Retrieved 2023-09-09.

[3] Granholm, Cory. "Weekly Rankings". NIRSA Play. Archived from the original on 2023-05-25. Retrieved 2023-08-13.

[1]

[a]

[2]