⚽ Kansas Set to Open Conference Play at No. 8 TCU

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas (5-4-1) begins their Big 12 slate on Thursday evening as the Jayhawks travel to No. 8 TCU. The contest will kick off at 7 p.m. CT on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and fans can follow live stats here.

The match will be the third of four straight road games for Kansas. The Jayhawks have split the first two games of that stretch with a 2-1 victory at Dartmouth on Sept. 16, before falling at Harvard 2-1 on Sept. 19.

In the match at Harvard, redshirt-junior Emilie Gavillet made her first career start in net. She did so after playing the second half of the game at Dartmouth. Gavillet made four saves at Harvard, including back-to-back saves in the 79th and 80th minutes to keep the deficit at one goal and give the Jayhawks a chance to tie the game.

Freshman Magali Gagné scored her first career goal at Harvard in the 66th minute of the match. Gagné pressured the Harvard goalkeeper in the box, forcing a turnover and leading to an easy tap in goal.

TCU comes into Thursday night’s match with a record of 7-1-0 and ranked eighth in both the United Soccer Coaches poll and Top Drawer Soccer poll. The Horned Frogs suffered their first loss of the season in their most recent game on Sept. 16 vs. No. 9 Pepperdine after being shutout, 1-0.

Kansas holds a 5-4-3 advantage over TCU in the all-time series. Last season, TCU earned a 2-0 win at Rock Chalk Park on Oct. 22, 2020. The memorable moment in the series came in the 2019 Big 12 Tournament when Kansas defeated TCU 1-0 in the championship game to capture the program’s first Big 12 Tournament title.

Kansas will wrap up their four consecutive road games with a trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to play Oklahoma State. The match will be on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 1 p.m. CT and will be available on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.