⚽️ No. 22 Texas Defeats Kansas 2-0

AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 22 ranked Texas Longhorns beat the Kansas Jayhawks 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Soccer Stadium and Soccer Field. Two second-half goals lifted the Longhorns.

“I thought the kids did a tremendous job battling,” Head Coach Mark Francis said. “Texas has had some success and we tried to keep their opportunities to a minimum, which I thought we did. Two mistakes on the goals and they finished them, and in the Big 12 that happens.”

Kansas and Texas played to a scoreless first half. Texas held an 11-2 advantage on shots in the first half, but KU was able to keep them off the scoreboard.

Ten minutes into the second half, Texas went ahead 1-0. Mackenzie McFarland scored her first goal of the season on a pass from Trinity Byars. KU nearly responded 25 seconds later.

Off the kickoff, Kansas went on the attack. Super-senior midfielder Rylan Childers dribbled up the field and sent a pass to junior defender Kate Dreyer at the edge of the box. Dreyer struck the ball and the Texas goalkeeper got a hand on the ball, deflecting it off the crossbar. The ball bounced back into the box and Texas was able to clear it.

Texas (10-1-3, 4-0-1 Big 12) went on to add an insurance goal a couple minutes later in the 58th minute. Jilly Shimkin scored on the near post to make the score 2-0. The Longhorns held a 19-9 advantage on shots in the match.

Despite the loss, Francis is not discouraged heading into the final stretch of the season. “We have plenty left to play for. I think the group is in a good space mentally. We understand that we have been in every game. We have not played anybody yet where we have come off the field and we weren’t even in the game. It’s going to be nice to get back home. We have three of the four games at home. Twelve points left on the table. We start getting some results this week and we’re right back in it. There’s still a lot of belief in the group.”

Kansas (7-7-1, 0-4-1 Big 12) will return home to play Oklahoma on Thursday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcast on Big 12 NOW on ESPN+ and the Jayhawk Sports Network. Fans can purchase KU Soccer tickets by contacting the Kansas ticket office at 785-864-3141 or by visiting the ticketing page here.