Kansas Dominates Kansas State 4-1 in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown

Thursday, October 2

Lawrence, Kan.

6 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

8-2-2, 2-2-0

Kansas State

5-4-2, 0-3-1

Kansas St.

Kansas

Kansas Dominates Kansas State 4-1 in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown

10/2/2025 10:02:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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LAWRENCE, Kan. – In front of a near capacity crowd, Kansas bounced back with an offensive frenzy to defeat Kansas State 4-1 in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown on Thursday evening at Rock Chalk Park. The 2,402 fans in attendance saw Becca Smith score her first two career goals, along with Jillian Gregorski and Livvy Moore scoring a goal of their own. The attendance was the second largest crowd in school history.

Kansas improved to 8-2-2 on the season and 2-2-0 in Big 12 Conference play. Kansas State dropped to 5-4-2 on the year and 0-3-1 in league action.

"We were down 1-0 in the first 10 minutes and it was a real test for our program after taking two defeats and trying to rally and get the energy," Kansas head coach Nate Lie said. "I was wondering how we were going to respond with our backs up against the wall. Thankfully, we survived the next five to ten minutes."

Lie continued, "When we made substitutions and when our team settled in a little bit, I thought we really started to get control. So huge props to all of the substitutes that came in. I'm going to forget a few, but I thought Jordan Rowan and Jocelyn (Herrema) up front definitely changed the game. And then Becca (Smith), who hasn't received much playing time at all this year, a freshman, stayed ready and made a huge play. It was a nice program effort. We were missing some players today, some real key players, so I'm very happy with the way we responded today."

In the eighth minute, Kansas State's Jayce Woodard sent a pass downfield to an open Andra Mohler who was able to finish the opportunity to put the Wildcats up 1-0 early.

Kansas upped the pressure after the Wildcats goal, as Rowan was brought down in the box and drew a penalty. Gregorski took the penalty kick and capitalized with a strike past the goalkeeper to tie the game up at 1-1 in the 32nd minute.

Later in the half, Jordan Fjelstad sent a ball into the box to Rowan, who tapped the ball back to Smith, who struck the ball towards the back post to score the first goal of her career. Kansas took a 2-1 lead into the break.

In the 67th minute, Faith Johnston advanced the ball to a sprinting Saige Wimes, who crossed the ball across the box to Moore for a tap in goal into an empty net to extend the Jayhawks lead to 3-1.

The Jayhawks continued to try and add cushion to their lead to put the Wildcats away. Caroline Castans took a pass on the far side of the field and crossed the ball into the box to Gregorski, where she kicked the ball over her head to Smith, who deflected the ball into the net to score her second goal of the game in the 75th minute.

The teams traded chances in the last 15 minutes, but neither team scored again to close out the match in a 4-1 victory for Kansas.

NOTES
• Thursday's attendance of 2,402 fans was the second largest in school history.
• Kansas improved to 8-2-2 on the season and 2-2-0 in conference play.
• Kansas now leads the all-time series against Kansas State 7-2-2.
• Kansas has 10 goal scorers on the season.
• Kansas outshot Kansas State 20-7 overall and 10-4 in shots on goal.
• Smith scored the first two goals of her career.
• Gregorski scored her fifth goal of the season and the 13th of her career. She also recorded her first assist of the season.
• Moore scored her third goal of the season and the fourth of her career.
• Rowan, Fjelstad, and Johnston all recorded the first assist of their careers.
• Wimes tallied her third assist of the season and the 13th of her career.
• Castans recorded her team-leading sixth assist of the season and the 12th of her career.

UP NEXT
Kansas will begin a two-game road trip, as the Jayhawks will first travel to Lubbock, Texas, for a matchup with No. 18 Texas Tech on Sunday, Oct. 5. The match is slated for 1 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN+.