‘We’ll be back.’ Kentucky men’s soccer eliminated from NCAA tourney in loss at Notre Dame.

After sweating out the NCAA Tournament bubble and winning a first-round match in the national postseason, the 2023 Kentucky men’s soccer season came to an end Sunday night.

In the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament, UK lost at Notre Dame 2-0. The Fighting Irish (the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament) got second-half goals from midfielders Bryce Boneau and Nolan Spicer in the win.

Notre Dame will host Western Michigan in a Sweet 16 match Sunday.

“I thought (Notre Dame) was very organized, they made it hard for us in regard to trying to break them down,” UK head coach Johan Cedergren said in a video interview posted on social media by UK Athletics. “I think two moments, two rash decisions by our defenders and our back unit, and they scored two goals.”

Kentucky’s season ends with an overall record of 8-8-4 (W-L-D), an impressive mark considering UK’s 3-6-0 start to the year.

UK won five of its final seven matches, a run that started with impressive regular season wins over Marshall (the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament) and West Virginia (the No. 5 overall seed) to help secure Kentucky’s spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“Over these last 10 or so games, I’ve been really, really proud of the guys and how they rallied and how they stayed together,” Cedergren said. “Disappointed about the result today, can’t forget that we had five freshmen and two sophomores in the starting 11. It’s really early to look ahead, but this is a group that’s expecting to do more and wants to be back and hopefully makes deep runs going forward.”

Thursday night’s win at Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament meant that Kentucky has won a match in each of the last six NCAA Tournaments.

“No shame losing in the second round. No shame in losing to Notre Dame. But I do still think that we could have played a little better today,” Cedergren added. “... Again, incredibly excited and proud of the guys for how well they’ve done these last 10 or so games. So, we’ll be back, we’ll work hard in the offseason and excited to get going again.”

The other commonwealth school that was still in the NCAA Tournament also saw its season end Sunday.

Louisville lost at West Virginia, 1-0, also in the round of 32. The Cardinals’ 4-3 first-round win over Dayton had marked U of L’s first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2019.

This means only out-of-state schools are still in the running to contest the NCAA Division I men’s soccer championship right here in Kentucky.

This year’s College Cup — which consists of both national semifinals and the national title match — will be played at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, the home of USL Championship team Louisville City and National Women’s Soccer League team Racing Louisville.

The semifinals will be played Dec. 8 and the finals will be contested Dec. 11.