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The success of the K-State soccer program thus far in 2018 has felt like it should be noteworthy. So it may come as a surprise to discover that last year’s squad actually ended non-conference play with a better record than this year’s version.
Fortunately, yesterday afternoon the 2018 Cats made sure that the falloff was only a half game. Behind goals from Brookelynn Entz, Maddie Souder, and Tatum Wagner and another sparkling turn in net by goalkeeper Emma Malsy, K-State captured a 3-0 win at Tulsa.
The win leaves K-State with a 4-3-2 record, just off last year’s 5-3-1 pace. So it will come down to Big 12 play to determine just how much progress the squad has made since their freshman season of conference play. Defense has not been an issue aside from the 3-2 home loss to UMKC back on September 7; Malsy has now collected six clean sheets in nine outings and K-State is only giving up 2⁄3 of a goal per game.
Offense, on the other hand, has been lacking. Entz’s goal in the 20th minute yesterday snapped a Wildcat scoreless streak of just over 300 minutes, and the Cats have only tallied 11 goals on the year despite exploding for four against Oakland and the three yesterday.
That said, K-State has scored in four games and only allowed their opposition to do so on three occasions, and that’s a positive note — competition notwithstanding. It remains to be seen whether the Cats can improve on last season’s one-win conference record. They’ll begin that journey Friday night at the K-State soccer complex against 20th-ranked Oklahoma State.
Football
Via the Garden City Telegram, the Capital-Journal’s Tim Bisel investigates the thoughts of K-State’s defense as they prepare to face Will Grier and the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday.
At the KWCH Channel 12 website, the staff reports on their local boy done good, Goddard Eisenhower alum Blake Lynch.
Golf
The Wildcat women had a rough weekend in East Lansing at the Mary Fossum Invitational. Sunday’s final round saw Niamh McSherry leading the Cats with a 7-over 79, and the team suffered through a brutal 78-over weekend and a 15th-place finish in a 16-team field. Reid Isaac was top scorer for K-State, finishing in a tie for 52nd at 13-over.
The team will be in Greenville, S.C., this coming weekend for the Lady Paladin Invitational, hosted by Furman.
As for the men, Jeremy Gandon posted a 2-under 70 while freshman Brian Choe was 1-under 71 in the opening round of the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Cedar Rapids, Ia. Both men are in the top 15, Gandon tied for ninth and Choe tied for 14th. Their performance helped the squad as a whole post an even-par 288, and they enter today’s second round in sixth place out of 16 teams, 11 strokes behind leaders Arkansas State. Gandon is four shots back of leader Thomas Thurloway of Jacksonville.
The men’s team was the focus of yesterday’s Sports Extra, as Corbin McGuire ran down the team’s internal qualifying results for this weekend’s tournament.