SLATE: K-State Soccer’s big weekend

The women’s soccer team at Kansas State did not win a game this weekend.

What they did, however, was pretty damned impressive. Thursday night, off the foot of Kyler Goins, the Wildcats salvaged a 1-1 home draw against ninth-ranked West Virginia. Taking a lofted pass from Brookelynn Entz over the Mountaineer defense in the 18th minute, Goins dribbled downfield and fired a game-tying shot from 19 yards out. It was the third goal for Goins this campaign, second on the team behind Marisa Weichel’s five; for Entz, it was a team-leading fifth assist.

They weren’t done impressing, however. On Sunday, Alaina Werremeyer stopped a school record 13 shots as K-State (6-6-2, 1-2-2) held on for a nil-nil draw with #23 Baylor at Buser Family Park. The biggest save of the night came in the 82nd minute when Ally Henderson-Ashkinos was awarded a penalty kick which could have won the game for the Bears. A dive to the right kept the net empty and the sheet clean. The Cats had a chance three minutes later with a loose ball just inches from the goal line, but Maddie Weichel wasn’t able to get to it in time.

Two draws against ranked opponents in one weekend is a result in which the program can rightly take pride. Perhaps equally impressive is this stat which Werremeyer’s huge save ensured would remain true: the Wildcats have not allowed a second-half goal this season in Big 12 play.

This weekend, the Cats will be on the road as they visit Oklahoma State on Thursday and Oklahoma on Sunday. The Cowboys aren’t great and the Sooners are just flat-out bad, so K-State could manage to secure a spot in the Big 12 championship before the weekend is over.

Football

Arne Green of the Capital-Journal examines what K-State’s defense needs to do in order to get back on track after two lackluster performances have suddenly caused the L-Mob hype to disappear, and (via the Salina Journal) focuses on Landry Weber and his career day last weekend.

Some Sports Extra stuff from D. Scott Fritchen: on Thursday, he touched on Reggie Walker and his new book on the mental side of football, on Friday he made seven bye-week observations on the team’s state near the season’s midpoint, and this morning he dropped a Q&A with Jonathan Beasley in the wake of Beasley’s induction into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame.

Women’s Basketball

K-State has announced a large portion of its 2021-22 women’s basketball broadcast schedule. The road games are still up in the air with the three exceptions: the game at North Carolina State on November 19, the game at South Carolina on December 3, and the January 8 game at West Virginia will all be carried on ESPN+. ESPN+ will also carry 17 of K-State’s 19 home games; the two exceptions are the home games against Oklahoma on January 23 and Oklahoma State on February 20, both of which will air on ESPNU.

Tennis

K-State had a pretty good weekend at the SMU Red & Blue Classic (Friday - Saturday - Sunday). Karine-Marion Job won the Mustang Draw bracket with wins over Kailey Evans of Texas Tech on Friday, SMU’s Lexi Keberle on Saturday, and Tech’s Avelina Sayfetdinova on Sunday. Dinara Alloyarova, teaming with Tech’s Camryn Stepp, won their doubles draw with Friday wins over doubles teams from Central Arkansas and Incarnate Word before a Saturday win over a pair from Tyler Junior College. Job and Anna Turco took third in their doubles draw, losing to Baylor on Friday before a win over Central Arkansas on Saturday; Turco and Alloyarova finished third in their respective singles draws as well.

The team as a whole will be back in action next Thursday in Iowa City for the ITA Regionals.

Golf

The men will be playing this afternoon in the first round of the three-day Big 12 Match Play Championship at Houston Oaks in Hockey, Texas. Unfortunately, Golfstat doesn’t show who the Cats will face in today’s flight.

The women, meanwhile, are scheduled to participate today and tomorrow in the Dale McNamara Invitational at the Golf Club of Oklahoma in Broken Arrow, hosted by Tulsa. However, given the tornado weather that ripped through the southern portions of the Tulsa metro last night, there may be postponements.