No. 16 Kansas Edged 1-0 by No. 21 Saint Louis in First Round of NCAA Tournament

Friday, November 15

St. Louis, Mo.

7:00 PM

University of Kansas

13-6-4, 6-4-1

#21 Saint Louis

15-1-6, 7-0-3

Kansas

Saint Louis

No. 16 Kansas Edged 1-0 by No. 21 Saint Louis in First Round of NCAA Tournament

11/15/2024 10:33:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Press Conference

ST. LOUIS – Kansas soccer's miraculous run into the NCAA Tournament came to an end as the No. 8-seeded Sant Louis Billikens defeated the Jayhawks 1-0 in the first round at Hermann Stadium on Friday night. A goal by Emily Gaebe in the 20th minute was the difference.

In the first season under head coach Nate Lie, Kansas finished with a record of 13-6-4. The Jayhawks won their second Big 12 Tournament Championship in program history and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. The 13 wins are the third most by a first-year head coach in Big 12 history.

"I thought it was a good, competitive, hard fought, even soccer game amongst two very good teams," Lie said. "Saint Louis is a deserving winner and an excellent team, experience, battle tested. We wish them the best. It was a good competitive match and hope they are successful in the tournament going forward. I think we would like to get our first 25 minutes back. Up until the one goal of the match, we came out a poor combination of a little bit flat, a little bit nervous and allowed Saint Louis to create a lot of opportunities. They could have scored two, three, four times in that first 15 minutes and they finally got that one."

Lie continued, "For whatever reason, I think that settled us down. The remaining 60 minutes felt on our terms, which I'm proud of. I'm very proud of the team for their response to a tough start, a response to an early goal conceded. We knocked on the door a decent amount in the second half and had a lot of service. They have very good center backs and a very good goalkeeper that weren't going to give us anything. I think we had two opportunities on the line, scrambles that went bang-bang. Two cleared off the line and if that goes in who knows. Those are the things that we're going to have to live with going forward. That is what is beautiful about this time of the year and that is what is hard about this time of the year, you don't get second chances on this same sort of stage. Proud of the team for both what we did heading into this game and how we responded in this game. I thought we showed our brand of soccer over the last two thirds of the game."

Saint Louis (15-1-6) came out on the front foot at the beginning of the game. In the 20th minute, the Billikens were able to flick the ball forward towards the Kansas goal that Emily Gaebe was able to control. Gaebe passed the ball to Hannah Larson who gave it back to Gaebe for her to finish it in the right corner of the net.

The Billikens were able to hold that 1-0 lead into halftime. Saint Louis led 7-4 in shots and 3-1 for shots on target.

Kansas had two great opportunities inside the six-yard box in the 62nd minute. Jillian Gregorski had a shot blocked right in front of the goal and the ball bounced to Lexi Watts who had her shot saved by Saint Louis goalkeeper Emily Puricelli.

The next best chance for the Jayhawks came in the 83rd minute. Caroline Castans crossed the ball into the box and Gregorski came sliding in to try and direct the ball into the goal. The ball went straight up in the air and was cleared by a Saint Louis defender.

The Jayhawks were unable to find the back of the net in the final minutes. Kansas and Saint Louis finished even in shots at 10-10 and Saint Louis had a 5-4 advantage on shots on target. Kansas had two corner kicks compared to one for Saint Louis.

NOTES
• Kansas finished the season with a record of 13-6-4.
• Kansas had its eight-match winning streak snapped.
• Kansas fell to 8-10-0 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
• Nate Lie led Kansas to 13 wins this season. That is the third most wins by a first-year head coach in Big 12 soccer history behind Randy Waldrum in 1996 at Baylor (17) and Nick Cowell in 1999 at Baylor (14).