Kansas Soccer Ready for Big 12 Championship Against Arizona State Wednesday Night

Wednesday, October 30

Kansas City, Mo.

5:15 PM

University of Kansas

Arizona State

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Kansas Soccer Ready for Big 12 Championship Against Arizona State Wednesday Night

10/29/2024 3:15:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Live Stats Watch Tickets Kansas Game Notes

Arizona State (8-7-3, 3-7-1 Big 12) vs. Kansas (9-5-4, 6-4-1 Big 12)
When	Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 5:15 p.m. CT*
Where	Kansas City, Mo. // CPKC Stadium
Watch	ESPN+
Live Stats	Stats
Game Notes	Kansas \| Arizona State
Tickets	Buy Tickets
Social Media	@KUWSoccer \| @kansassoccer \| Facebook

*The game time was adjusted to 5:15 p.m. CT due to the potential for inclement weather.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 6-seeded Kansas Jayhawks will play the No. 11-seeded Arizona State Sun Devils in the first round of the Sprouts Farmers Market Big 12 Soccer Championship on Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. CT at CPKC Stadium. The game was originally scheduled for 8 p.m. CT, but the time was adjusted to 5:15 p.m. CT due to the potential for inclement weather.

The tournament is returning to Kansas City for the first time since 2019 when Kansas won the championship for the first time in school history.

[Making the tournament] was a goal when I walked into the room and spoke to the team without the press, without the administrators," head coach Nate Lie said. "That was the first consistent theme out of their mouths is we want to play in the Big 12 Tournament. Hopefully that's not our absolute goal and hopefully we're not settling for just being there. It was a big part of what we all wanted to accomplish…I know I'm still hungry. I'm pretty sure the team is still hungry. We're not just there to participate by any means."

Kansas (9-5-4, 6-4-1 Big 12) is returning to the postseason tournament for the first time since 2022. The Jayhawks are riding a season-long four-match winning streak, including three consecutive wins on the road at Arizona, Arizona State and Kansas State to finish the regular season.

KU finished the season with six conference wins for the first time since 2006, including four of those victories coming on the road. The Jayhawks did not have one conference win on the road in the last three seasons combined. As a team, Kansas had a shutout in five of its six conference wins this season.

Kansas had three Jayhawks receive postseason conference honors on Tuesday. Sophomore defender Caroline Castans and junior forward Lexi Watts were named to the All-Big 12 First Team, while freshman midfielder Jillian Gregorski received a spot on the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.

Castans and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Sophie Dawe also were recipients of the final Big 12 weekly awards of the year. Castans was named Defensive Player of the Week and Dawe was selected as Co-Freshman of the Week on Monday. Castans recorded her first career multi-goal game in a 2-0 win at Kansas State and Dawe led Kansas to its seventh shutout of the season and her sixth solo shutout of the year.

ABOUT ARIZONA STATE
Arizona State (8-7-3, 3-7-1 Big 12) dropped its final regular season to Arizona by a score of 1-0. The Sun Devils finished in 11th place in the Big 12 regular season standings. Kierra Blundell, Enasia Colon and Cameron Valladares have combined for 22 of the team's 31 goals this season. Pauline Nelles has started every game in goal for Arizona State and has made 70 saves this season.

SERIES HISTORY
Kansas and Arizona State will be playing for the fifth time in school history and the second time in 10 days. Kansas leads the series 2-1-1. The Jayhawks won 2-1 in Tempe, Arizona, on Oct. 20 in comeback fashion. After going down a goal in the first five minutes of the match, Saige Wimes tied it up in the 28th minute and Lexi Watts scored the game-winner in the 66th minute.

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
Wednesday night's match will be broadcast on ESPN+, with Chuckie Kempf (play-by-play) and Sarah Gonzalez (analyst) on the call.

Live statistics can be found here, while live updates will also be provided on the team's official X page @KUWSoccer.

UP NEXT
Kansas will either advance to the quarterfinals of the Sprouts Farmers Market Big 12 Soccer Championship to play West Virginia on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 8 p.m. CT or its season will come to an end.