KICKING OFF: Kentucky and Marshall are set to represent the Sun Belt Conference in the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament on Sunday. Kentucky is set to host Pittsburgh at the Wendell and Vickie Bell Soccer Complex at 6 p.m. ET while Marshall will travel to Bloomington, Indiana to face the Hoosiers at 6:30 p.m. ET. Both matches will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
AT THE TOP: No. 1 seeded Kentucky (15-0-5) defeated South Florida (9-7-4), 4-0, to advance to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 on Sunday evening. After receiving a first-round bye, the Wildcats had four different goal scorers in 90 minutes of regulation in Martin Soereide, Casper Grening, Clay Holstad and Max Miller. Kentucky advances to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year and as the only Division I men’s soccer program still undefeated in the nation. 
 
PREPARING FOR PITT: Pittsburgh (10-4-5) earned a spot in the Sweet 16 after collecting a 3-0 road victory over the No. 16 Akron Zips on Sunday afternoon. With his two goals, Valentin Noel ranks second in Pitt program history with 33 career goals. His 79 career points also ranks second in program history. Keeper Joe van de Sar registered five saves on Sunday to collect his seventh clean sheet of the season, a mark that ranks tied for fourth most in a single season in program history. Similar to the Wildcats, the Panthers move on to the Round of 16 for the third straight season. 
 
HAVE YOU HERD: After finishing the first 110 minutes tied 1-1, Marshall (11-3-4) advanced to the third round of the 2022 NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament after moving past fourth-seeded Virginia on penalty kicks, 5-3. Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Freshman of the Year Matthew Bell became just the 11^th player in program history to score 10 goals in a single season, joining Milo Yosef and Pedro Dolabella as the only players to do it since 2012. 
 
SCOUTING INDIANA: The Herd will head to Bloomington, Indiana for a meeting with 13^th-seeded Hoosiers on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. in a rematch of the 2020 College Cup Final. The Hoosiers (11-4-6) are coming off a 1-0 shutout win over Saint Louis on Sunday. Indiana advances to the NCAA Tournament third round for an eight straight year. Ryan Wittenbrink ranks first on the squad with 26 points (9g, 8a), while JT Harms leads the Hoosiers between the pipes with his 1.19 GAA and 0.673 save percentage. 
 
BRACKET BREAKDOWN: Of the 16 teams remaining, the Sun Belt is one of three conferences to have multiple teams still represented in the 2022 NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament. The American Athletic Conference tops the field with three teams (Pitt, Syracuse, and Duke) while the Pac-12 (UCLA, Stanford) and the Sun Belt (Kentucky, Marshall) have two apiece.