⚽ MATCH PREVIEW: Big 12 Championship - Final
LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 21 Kansas (14-4-3) looks to bring home its first Big 12 Championship title when the No. 5-seeded Jayhawks meet the No. 6 seed TCU Horned Frogs (11-6-3) in the tournament final on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 12:30 p.m., inside Swope Soccer Village. The match will be televised on FS1, with Brenda Vanlengen (play-by-play) and Jessica Stamp (analyst) calling the action.
QUICK KICKS
- The Jayhawks will be playing in their second Big 12 Championship title match and first since 2015.
- The Jayhawks are now 7-13-5 in their 18 appearances in the Big 12 Championship, which includes a 4-3-2 record since 2015.
- The No. 5 seed has claimed the Big 12 Championship title three times since 2009, second only to the No. 2 seed, which has won the tournament four times in that span.
- Kansas holds a slight edge in the series with TCU at 4-3-3, with six of those 10 contests have been decided in overtime, including the 2-2 draw between the two squads earlier this season in Fort Worth.
- Kansas is coming off a 2-1 double-overtime win over top-seeded Oklahoma State in the tournament semifinals on Friday. Eva Eliasdottir netted the golden goal in the 109th minute as KU claimed its third win over a top-10 team since 2017.
- KU is riding an eight-match unbeaten streak, a mark that ties the program record for consecutive games without a loss, shared by the 2008 and 2018 squads. It’s last loss came at Oklahoma State, 5-2, in Stillwater on Oct. 3.
- Senior Katie McClure has scored 14 goals this season, good for second-most in the Big 12 in 2019 and the second-most by a Jayhawk in program history.
- After its double-overtime win Friday night, Kansas is now 7-1-6 in matches that have gone to extra time in the last two seasons.
- Kansas is unbeaten on its nine Sunday matches this season. The Jayhawks boast a 7-0-2 mark, a +17 goal differential (22-5), a 0.53 goals-against average and five shutouts on Sundays this year.
- Since 2014, the Jayhawks are 53-2-2 in matches in which they score two or more goals. This includes a 19-1-1 mark since the start of the 2018 season, with the lone blemish coming in the 5-2 loss to OSU last month.
GAME INFORMATION:
#21 Kansas (14-4-3, 4-2-3 Big 12) vs. TCU (11-6-3, 4-3-2 Big 12)
Date/Time: Sunday, Nov. 10 at 12:30 p.m. (CT)
Where: Kansas City, Mo. (Swope Soccer Village)
Listen: Jayhawk Radio Network
Watch: FS1
NOTES:
BY THE NUMBERS
- 00 – During KU’s eight-game unbeaten streak, Jayhawk goalkeeper No. 00 Sarah Peters has posted a 0.56 goals-against average, collected 4.6 saves per game, amassed a .881 save percentage, and notched four shutouts.
- 5 – Since conceding five goals at Oklahoma State on Oct. 3, KU’s opponents have scored just five times in the eight matches since.
- 40 – With their two scores Friday night, the Jayhawks hit the 40-goal plateau for the first time since 2011 and the eighth time in the 25 years of the program.
CHAMPIONSHIP TIME
Kansas finds itself in the Big 12 Championship final for the second time and the first time since 2015. KU lost that lone bid to claim the tournament trophy that year to Texas Tech, 1-0.
At the Big 12 Championship, now in its 24th year, Kansas has amassed a record of 7-13-5 in its 19 appearances and is 4-3-2 in the event since 2015. This season marks the second time Kansas is a No. 5 seed, with the previous year coming in 2005.
Kansas has history on its side as the No. 5 seed. The fifth-seeded team has claimed the Championship title twice in the last four years and three times in the last 10 years. Only the No. 2 seed has claimed the trophy more (four times) in that span.
NO SUNDAY SCARIES
With its 2-0 win over West Virginia on Nov. 3, Kansas remained unbeaten on Sundays this season. At 7-0-2, the Jayhawks are looking to finish the year without a Sunday loss for just the second time in program history. In 2016, KU went 6-0-3 on Sundays.
The torrid play on the first day of the week this season comes after the Jayhawks went a combined 5-7-3 on Sundays during the 2017 and 2018 campaigns.
Kansas has a +17 goal differential (22-5), a 0.53 goals-against average and five shutouts in Sunday matches this season.
SEMIFINAL SNIPPETS
- With the victory over OSU, KU advanced to the Big 12 Championship final for the second time in program history and the first since 2015.
- The match marked KU’s seventh victory over a team ranked in the top-10 of the national polls in program history and the Jayhawks’ third win over a top-10 squad since 2017.
- The win was KU’s first against the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Championship. The Jayhawks are now 1-3-0 against the top seed in the league tournament.
- Eva Eliasdottir’s golden goal at the 109:00 mark was the latest in Big 12 Championship history and the third-latest in program history under the current overtime rules.
- The victory also marked Kansas’ eighth-consecutive unbeaten result, which tied the program record. KU’s last loss came on Oct. 3 to Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
- With its extra-time win, KU claimed its seventh overtime win since the beginning of the 2018 season. KU is 7-1-6 in its 14 overtime contests over the last two seasons.
UP NEXT:
The Jayhawks look forward to learning their postseason fate on Monday, Nov. 11 when the field of 64 is announced for the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship. The Selection Show is set for 3:30 p.m. (CT) on NCAA.com.
