After a decade, UK women’s soccer is back in the NCAA Tournament. Here’s the path ahead.

For the first time in a decade, Kentucky women’s soccer is back in the NCAA Tournament field.

The Wildcats were named to the 64-team field for the 2024 NCAA Tournament during Monday afternoon’s selection show. UK was one of 34 at-large selections to the national postseason.

Kentucky (11-4-4, W-L-D) will begin its NCAA Tournament journey with a match against West Virginia (12-5-2). UK, which was given a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, will host this match at the Wendell and Vickie Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington.

Kentucky will face West Virginia at 7 p.m. Friday at The Bell. (Tickets can be found here).

The winner of that game would then face the winner of a match between No. 2 seed Notre Dame (11-3-4) and Milwaukee (12-6-2) in the second round.

This is only the second-ever time that UK has earned a national seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Third-year Kentucky head coach Troy Fabiano — who previously coached Milwaukee — has significantly turned around the Wildcats’ on-field fortunes since arriving in Lexington in November 2021.

Kentucky’s 11 wins this season marked the program’s most victories in a single campaign since 2014, which was the last season that saw the Wildcats reach the NCAA Tournament.

This season, UK went 3-3-4 in SEC play for the second straight year, and the Cats put together an undefeated home campaign with nine wins and three draws. This marked the first time since 2011 that Kentucky didn’t lose on its home turf at The Bell.

One of the signature moments of UK’s season thus far came in Lexington, when Kentucky toppled traditional power UCLA 2-0 on Sept. 8 in front of a national television audience.

Kentucky lost to Tennessee in the first round of the SEC Tournament, which was held in Florida, as the No. 8 seed playing the No. 9 seed.

Kentucky will be making its 12th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and its first since 2014.

The Wildcats’ best run in the national postseason came in 2014, when UK reached the Sweet 16 for the only time in school history.

UK also last hosted an NCAA Tournament match in 2014.

Makala Woods leads the way for UK women’s soccer

Transfer forward Makala Woods has been the undoubted star of this year’s Kentucky team. A graduate student who previously played at Illinois, Woods has exploded for 11 goals this season. In four previous seasons at Illinois, Woods had six goals combined.

Woods’ scoring haul includes a hat trick in Kentucky’s regular season finale, a 4-0 home thrashing of rival Tennessee. That performance was Woods’ first career college hat trick. Woods is the eighth player in UK history to score a trio of goals in one match.

At the other end of the pitch, sixth-year goalkeeper Marz Josephson — who previously spent four years at women’s soccer power North Carolina, but missed her sophomore and junior seasons due to injury — remains a solid presence for the Wildcats between the posts. Josephson has started all 19 of Kentucky’s matches, making 33 saves and recording seven shutouts.

Four Wildcats earned all-SEC honors this season. Woods was named the SEC’s Newcomer of the Year and was selected to the All-SEC First Team. Senior defender Grace Phillpotts was also an All-SEC First Team selection for UK, while graduate student midfielder Maddie Kemp was named to the All-SEC Third Team and forward Alexis Tylenda to the league’s All-Freshman Team.

The combined five postseason honors for UK players are the most in program history.

The job Fabiano has done to turn around the UK program in a short time also shouldn’t be overlooked. In 2022, Fabiano’s first season at Kentucky, the Wildcats failed to win a single SEC game.

After being left on the NCAA Tournament bubble last year, Kentucky will make its return to the national postseason this year, despite having to replace all-time leading goal scorer Jordyn Rhodes during the offseason.

According to Fabiano’s contract with UK, which was reworked in late February, Fabiano will get a $10,000 performance incentive payment for guiding UK to the NCAA Tournament.

Other Kentucky schools also in NCAA Tournament field

Kentucky isn’t the only women’s soccer program from the commonwealth that made the 64-team NCAA Tournament field.

The Wildcats are joined in the national postseason by Morehead State, which made the NCAA Tournament for a second straight season. Morehead State went 9-7-6 this season, and actually lost the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship game on Sunday to Lindenwood, 3-2.

But, Lindenwood isn’t eligible for the NCAA Tournament as that school continues its transition process of becoming an NCAA Division I member. This process was recently completed by a Kentucky school, Bellarmine, which is located in Louisville.

Morehead State will begin its NCAA Tournament against No. 2 seed Wake Forest (12-3-3), a team that’s allowing less than 0.7 goals per match.

Wake Forest will host this first round match against Morehead State at 6 p.m. Friday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The winner of that match would face the winner of a match between Georgia (8-6-6) and Colorado (11-4-5) in the second round.

This is the fifth time in school history that Morehead State has made the NCAA Tournament, and the first time the Eagles are taking part in consecutive editions of the national postseason.

Morehead State has lost and been shut out in all four of its previous NCAA Tournament matches. This includes 2-0 losses at Wake Forest in both 2008 and 2013.

NCAA Tournament bracket, schedule

This year’s edition of the NCAA Tournament for women’s soccer runs from Nov. 15 until the national championship game on Dec. 9.

The College Cup — which is the NCAA soccer equivalent of the Final Four — will be hosted this year at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.

Florida State is the defending national champions, and that school has won four NCAA titles in the last decade. Florida State defeated Morehead State, 5-0, in last year’s first round.

The full history of the NCAA Tournament can be found here, and a complete bracket for the 2024 tournament can be found here.

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