⚽ MATCH PREVIEW: NCAA Championship - Second Round

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The No. 3-seeded Kansas soccer team is set to continue NCAA Tournament play on Friday, Nov. 22 when the Jayhawks meet BIG EAST regular-season and tournament champions Xavier in Columbia, S.C. Kickoff from Stone Stadium is set for 2 p.m. (CT) on SEC Network+.

QUICK KICKS

  • The Jayhawks are 7-8-0 in their nine appearances in the NCAA Tournament. KU has now advanced past the first round on six of those occasions and three times in the last four years.
  • KU is coming off a 1-0 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Nov. 16 in Lawrence. Kailey Lane scored the eventual game-winner in the 70th minute as KU closed out its 11th shutout of the season.
  • Kansas is 1-4-0 in the NCAA Tournament’s Second Round with its lone win coming in 2003, a 2-0 victory over Missouri.
  • KU is riding a 10-match unbeaten streak, a new program record for consecutive games without a loss. KU’s last loss came at Oklahoma State, 5-2, in Stillwater on Oct. 3.
  • The Jayhawks earned the first Big 12 tournament title in program history with a 1-0 win over TCU in the championship on Nov. 10. A league-record seven Jayhawks earned All-Tournament team nods for their efforts in the event.
  • The Jayhawks’ 11 shutouts on the year are the third-most by a KU team in program history. Kansas also boasts a goals-against average of 0.46 during its 10-game unbeaten streak, having conceded only five goals in that span.
  • Senior Katie McClure has scored 14 goals this season, good for second-most in the Big 12 and the second-most by a Jayhawk in program history.
  • The Kansas defense has not conceded a goal in its last 288 minutes. The Jayhawks have posted five opponent scoreless streaks of 300 minutes or longer over the last five years, including a 328-minute stretch earlier this season.
  • 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:

#3 Kansas (16-4-3) vs. Xavier (17-3-2)

Date/Time: Friday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. (CT)

Where: Stone Stadium (Columbia, S.C.)

Listen: Jayhawk Radio Network

Watch: SEC Network+

NOTES:

BY THE NUMBERS

  • 3 – The Jayhawks find themselves as a national seed (No. 3) in the NCAA Tournament or the second time in program history and the first time since 2004. The season was also that last time KU found itself in back-to-back NCAA tourneys.
  • 6 – Six different Jayhawks have netted KU’s last six goals dating back to the match vs. Iowa State on Oct. 31. A total of 12 different Jayhawks have found the back of the net this season.
  • 21 – Of the 338 NCAA DI teams, the Jayhawks are among a group of only 21 squads that have reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament at least three times over the last four seasons.

LET’S DANCE!

The Kansas Jayhawks are making their ninth appearance in the NCAA Championship and their sixth in the second round when they meet in Columbia Friday. Kansas is 7-8-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament games with its best run coming in 2003 when the Jayhawks advanced to the Sweet 16, where they fell to UCLA, 1-0, in Los Angeles. Kansas has advanced past the first round in six of its nine appearances and each of its last three trips to the NCAA tourney.

 

Kansas is making its second-straight appearance in the Big Dance. Last year, KU welcomed Saint Louis for its second meeting of the season at Rock Chalk Park. KU’s Katie scored the golden goal in the second overtime to hand the Jayhawks a 2-1 win. Kansas then fell to No. 1-seed North Carolina in the second round, 4-1.

RECORD BOOK REVIEW

As Kansas continues to advance through the late stages of the 2019 campaign, several Jayhawks have moved their names up on the program’s all-time career and single-season records chart. Here are some of the notable players making waves in the KU record book:

 

  • Katie McClure: The senior forward ranks in the top-two of the KU career charts in points (88 – 2nd) and goals (36 – 2nd) and in the top-three on the single-season charts in points (37- 2nd), goals (14 – 2nd), game-winning goals (6 – 3rd) and shots (93 – 2nd).
  • Addisyn Merrick: The senior defender is second on the single-season minutes list, now with 2,098 on the year. She also sits second on the career minutes list, needing only to play 21 more minutes to claim the all-time program mark.
  • Sarah Peters: The sophomore goalkeeper has collected 16 wins in between the posts for KU this season, the third-most in program history. Her goals-against average of 0.72 is the second-lowest by a Jayhawk keeper. Peters’ 10 shutouts are second in the school record books, and one behind tying that all-time mark

NCAA FIRST ROUND LEFTOVERS

  • The No. 3-seeded Jayhawks topped the Iowa Hawkeyes in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 16 in Lawrence. It marked the third time in four seasons that Kansas has claimed an opening-round victory on its home pitch.
  • Sophomore Kailey Lane netted the eventual game-winning goal in the 70th minute. With Lane’s strike, seven different Jayhawks have scored KU’s last seven goals.
  • Kansas managed only one shot on target in the match, Lane’s game-winner. Iowa tallied five shots on frame, but was unable to find the back of the net.
  • Sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Peters collected five saves en route to her 10th shutout of the season. Her 10 clean sheets are tied for the second-most by a keeper in program history.
  • Kansas became one of 21 DI programs to advance past the first round of the NCAA Tournament at least three times in the last four seasons.
  • The announced attendance of 1,547 marked the fourth-largest crowd to watch a Kansas home soccer match.

UP NEXT:

The winner of the KU-Xavier contest will play the winner of the No. 2-seed South Carolina-Notre Dame match on Sunday, Nov.24 in Columbia in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Kickoff from Stone Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m. (CT) and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.