No. 24 Jayhawks upended by Frogs in Big 12 quarterfinal, 1-0
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Horned Frog junior forward Allison Ganter’s goal in the 51st minute proved to be enough to take down the No. 24 Kansas Jayhawks, 1-0, Wednesday night in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals at Swope Soccer Village.
The loss moved Kansas to 10-5-4 on the year and brought the Jayhawks’ five-game unbeaten streak to an end. TCU’s victory elevated its record to 11-5-2 in 2016, and was the Horned Frogs’ third-straight win.
“I’m really gutted for the kids,” said head coach Mark Francis following the loss. “I felt like we had the better chances and we took it to them for the majority of the game. Give credit to TCU though, they capitalized on their best chance of the match and that’s something we couldn’t do. This loss hurts because I think our team is good enough to win this tournament. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out for us tonight.”
In what was a physical match from start to finish, the No. 2-seed Jayhawks and the No. 7-seeded Horned Frogs met for the first time in Big 12 tournament action. Neither team created many dangerous chances over the first 45 minutes of action. Kansas’ best look of the opening period came within the opening seven minutes of action when freshman Katie McClure let loose a shot from 10 yards out. The strike skipped off the crossbar and out of bounds, just inches high of putting Kansas ahead early in the match.
Freshman Katie McClure led the Jayhawks with four shots on the night.Similar to the KU-TCU match earlier this year, the Horned Frogs came out of the halftime locker room on a mission. Just over five minutes into the second half, a TCU corner kick was too much for the KU defense to handle. The service from Michelle Prokof flew to the far post and ping-ponged around the six-yard box before Ganter poked in the loose ball.
The deficit didn’t deter the Jayhawks, who had several great looks at an equalizer over the remainder of the half.
Perhaps Kansas’ closest look at a goal came in the 76th minute when McClure saw a one-on-one chance with the TCU keeper, Katie Lund. McClure’s close-distance shot went right into the numbers of Lund’s jersey and sent the Jayhawks the other way with another missed opportunity.
Seven minutes later, KU got another near goal off the foot of McClure, this time off a free kick from 20 yards out. The Wichita product’s shot darted to the lower left corner of the goal frame, but Lund was there again for her second and final save of the match.
The match came to a close eight minutes later, handing Kansas just its second loss over the last five weeks.
McClure led the squad with four shots on the night, and was tops on the KU team that outshot the Horned Frogs 13-8. The match was also a physical one, with 23 fouls whistled between the two teams.
Kansas will now wait to learn its postseason fate when the NCAA Tournament Selection Show is held on Monday, Nov. 7 at 3:30 p.m. The first round of the NCAA Tournament will be held on campus sites Nov. 11-13.
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