The Kansas State soccer team was on the road this weekend to face Oklahoma State and the University of Oklahoma, but the Wildcats fell to both teams in close games.
Last Friday, the Wildcats were hosted by the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The match saw K-State lose 2-1, the team’s third straight loss.
K-State took an early 1-0 lead just five minutes into the match. The goal came when freshman forward Hannah Davis passed a corner kick to freshman defender Avery Green, who then headed the ball into the net. This was Green’s first goal of her career and Davis racked up her fifth assist of the year. Out of K-State’s last 12 goals, Davis has scored or assisted on seven of them.
Despite the early goal, the Wildcats could not get on the scoreboard for the rest of the match. Oklahoma State tied the match at 1-1 in the 17th minute after Charme Morgan forced a turnover and turned it into her fourth goal of the season.
Six minutes later, the Cowgirls scored again. After a foul against K-State, Oklahoma State’s Laurene Tresfield attempted a direct kick that got punched in for a goal by Anna Beffer. The goal would prove to be enough for a win, as the Cowgirls’ defense held the 2-1 lead for the remaining 67 minutes of the match.
Even though they had an 11-3 advantage in corner kicks, the Wildcats were outshot 16-6 (8-5 on goal) by Oklahoma State.
K-State head coach Mike Dibbini said he was optimistic despite the loss because his team competed well against a nationally-ranked team, and one that is also the Big 12’s highest scoring team.
“I think one of the positives we could take away from this is we created a lot of chances against a very good team,” Dibbini said to K-State Sports. “We also received strong efforts from a number of our bench players this afternoon.”
After Friday’s tough loss, the Wildcats visited Norman, Oklahoma, to face the Oklahoma Sooners on Sunday. The Wildcats could not outlast the Sooners in a hard-fought match, losing 3-2. It marked the team’s fourth straight loss, tying a program high for consecutive losses.
For the first half, K-State held a 1-0 lead. Freshman midfielder Brookelynn Entz scored the goal 21 minutes into the match. It was her fourth goal of the season.
Oklahoma’s first goal came in the 50th minute of the match, as Rasha Roberts hit from six yards out. The next two Sooner goals were the products of free penalty kicks. The first was headed in by Kaylee Dao and the second belonged to Lizzie Luallin. The goals came in the 74th and 77th minutes, respectively. Tori Bowman assisted on both match-clinching goals.
K-State was not ready to give up yet. At the 79:06 mark, Maddie Souder scored her second goal of the season to get the Wildcats back in the game, 3-2. But for the remainder of the match, the Wildcats were unable to attempt any more goals.
K-State’s soccer record falls to 6-10-1 for the season as the Wildcats prepare for their last regular season match.
On Friday, K-State will host the Iowa State Cyclones at the K-State Soccer Complex. The match will start at 7 p.m. and can be seen on Cox Kansas or KStateSports.com. It can also be listened to on 101.5 FM K-ROCK.
