LEXINGTON, Ky. — It's the start of a brand-new season for Kentucky women's soccer. The Wildcats (0-0-0) will take on the Central Michigan Chippewas (0-0-0) Aug. 15 at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex at 7:30 p.m. as they open the 2024 season. 

The Wildcats finished 2023 with a 9-4-6 record, highlighted by their 13-match unbeaten streak to open the season. The team also made its first SEC Tournament since the 2020 season and its first in the 10-team format since 2015, making the quarterfinals for the first time since 2014. 

Kentucky has 15 players returning from the 2023 season, including assists leader and All-SEC Freshman Team honoree Tanner Strickland, Second-Team All-SEC defender Grace Phillpotts and goalkeeper Marz Josephson, whose 0.62 goals against average was the third best in program history.

Coach Troy Fabiano enters his third season at the helm. Fabiano welcomes 25 new players, including nine transfers, with five of them being all-conference award winners at their previous schools. With 16 freshmen also joining the team, it makes one of the program's largest signing classes.

Phillpotts, Josephson, Maddie Kemp, Sophia Mattice and Makala Woods were selected to the SEC Preseason Watchlist. This was the second time Josephson has been nominated for the honor and the first for the remaining group. 

The match is the first regular season event on UK Athletics' 2024-25 calendar. UK Athletics said the first 250 fans in attendance will receive schedule T-shirts. It is the first of eight consecutive nonconference matches for the Wildcats, who begin SEC play Sept. 19 against Florida at home.  

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