MATCH PREVIEW: Big 12 Championship - Quarterfinals
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The No. 25 Kansas Jayhawks are set to take part in the Big 12 Soccer Championship beginning Sunday, Nov. 3 in Kansas City, Missouri. Coming off a 4-2-3 finish in the Big 12 regular-season race, the No. 5-seeded Jayhawks will meet the No. 4 seed West Virginia Mountaineers in the quarterfinal match set for 2 p.m., at Swope Soccer Village.
QUICK KICKS
- The Jayhawks are 5-13-5 in their 18 appearances in the Big 12 Championship, which includes a 2-3-2 record over the last four years. Kansas is appearing as the No. 5 seed for just the second time.
- Kansas closed their regular season with a 2-1 win over Iowa State on Thursday night in Ames. It marked KU’s sixth-straight win over ISU.
- KU is riding a six-match unbeaten streak, its longest such streak since starting the 2018 campaign going undefeated in its first eight contests. The program record for consecutive games without a loss is eight, shared by the 2008 and 2018 squads.
- Senior Katie McClure finished the regular season with 13 goals, good for second-most in the Big 12 and the most in a season by a Jayhawk since 2014.
- Either Katie McClure or Ceri Holland have scored each of the Jayhawks’ last eight goals, which spans KU’s last four matches. Holland has scored in four-straight matches, one shy from tying the program record.
- Kansas was slotted at No. 19 in the season’s sixth Rating Percentage Index (RPI) released by the NCAA this week. It marked the first time since 2014 that the Jayhawks were slotted in the top-20 of the RPI in six-straight weeks.
- The Jayhawks have gone to overtime in four of their last six outings, going 1-0-3 in those four extra time games. KU is 10-3-14 in their last 27 overtime matches, and 6-1-6 in OTs since the start of the 2018 season.
- Since 2014, the Jayhawks are 51-2-2 in matches in which they score two or more goals. This includes a 17-1-1 mark since the start of the 2018 season, with the lone blemish coming in the 5-2 loss to OSU three weeks ago.
- The win Thursday made the 2019 Jayhawks the sixth KU squad in program history to finish a regular season with 12 or more wins. They would join the teams from 2014 (15), 2009 (12), 2004 (16), 2003 (15) and 2001 (13).
GAME INFORMATION:
#25 Kansas (12-4-3, 4-2-3 Big 12) vs. West Virginia (10-6-2, 5-3-1 Big 12)
Date/Time: Sunday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. (CT)
Where: Kansas City, Mo. (Swope Soccer Village)
Listen: Jayhawk Radio Network
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
NOTES:
BY THE NUMBERS
- 6 – With the conclusion of Big 12 play, Kansas has now posted a top-six finish on the league table in seven of the last eight years. Only West Virginia has tallied more top-six finishes in that span.
- 8 – Either Katie McClure or Ceri Holland have netted each of the Jayhawks’ last eight goals, which spans over KU’s last eight matches.
- 36 – KU’s 36 goals scored are the most by a Jayhawk squad since 2011, when they posted 46 goals. The 2004 and 2009 teams share the program record with 47 goals netted during their respective seasons.
TOURNEY TIME
In the 23 years of the Big 12 Championship, Kansas has amassed a record of 5-13-5 in its 18 appearances. This season marks the second time Kansas will be a No. 5 seed. The previous year KU was seeded fifth was in 2005. Kansas is 4-10-4 all-time in Big 12 quarterfinal games.
Kansas has history on its side as the No. 5 seed. A team seeded fifth or lower has advanced to the Big 12 Championship final in six of the last seven years.
NO SUNDAY SCARIES
With its 2-2 draw against TCU on Oct. 27, Kansas concluded the regular season unbeaten on Sundays this season. At 6-0-2, 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 +15 goal differential (20-5), a 0.59 goals-against average and four shutouts in Sunday matches this season.
FIRST TO SCORE, WINS GALORE
Dating back to the beginning of the 2012 season, now at 163 games, Kansas has developed an interesting trend when it comes to which team tallies the first goal of the match. During that 163-game span, the Jayhawks were on the losing end only four times in contests which they put in the match’s first goal. Kansas has amassed a record of 75-4-9 in those games (90.7 winning %), which includes 10 of KU’s wins and one draw this season.
UP NEXT:
If the Jayhawks advance past their quarterfinal match-up, they will take on the winner of the No. 1 seed Oklahoma State-No. 8 seed Oklahoma game in the semifinal slated for Friday, Nov. 8 at 4:30 p.m. The match will be streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
