Kansas Soccer Takes Over Big 12 Lead with 1-0 Win over Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The University of Kansas soccer team vaulted to first place in the race for the Big 12 Conference regular season title on Friday by defeating No. 13 Texas A&M, 1-0, at the Aggie Soccer Complex in College Station, Texas.

“This was really a gutsy effort by our team,” said head coach Mark Francis. “It wasn’t a really pretty game, but I’m proud of how we battled to the end.”

Despite being outshot 17-8 in the contest, the No. 6 Jayhawks (15-2-0; 7-1 Big 12) scored the game’s only goal in the 59th minute when senior forward Rachel Gilfillan tallied her seventh goal of the season. On the play, Gilfillan took a pass from junior forward Jessica Smith and fired a shot just beneath the cross bar and past Aggie goalkeeper Kati Jo Spisak.

Senior goalkeeper Meghan Miller tied her own school-record with her 11th shutout of the season. The Seattle, Wash, native, collected five saves in the match and lowered her conference-leading goals against average to 0.30.

“I think this was really a game of two halves,” Francis said. “Texas A&M really controlled the first half and I think that we did a lot better job in the second half. In the last ten minutes, they really threw everything at us and we did a good job of staying in control. Anytime you can get a win on the road in this conference it is a big deal and this was a great win for us.”

The win was KU’s season-high seventh game in a row and its first win over the Aggies in program history. With one more win, the Jayhawks can clinch a share of the Big 12 regular season title, while a pair of wins in their last two games gives Kansas its first conference championship in school history.

With the loss, Texas A&M drops to 12-4-0 overall this season and 7-2 in Big 12 play.

On Sunday, KU will travel to Austin to battle the Texas Longhorns at 1 p.m.