Kansas State soccer began its homestand with a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Utah after leading in the first half.
K-State, which drops to 3-8-3 and 0-5-2 in conference, scored right away in the 5th minute of the match. On the goal was junior Sophie Simmons, scoring on a beautiful cross by senior forward Riley Baker. The goal was Simmons’ first of her career.
“I thought we did a good job executing our game plan in the first half by defending up high on the field and causing some problems, creating our chances and creating our goal,” head coach Mike Dibbini said in a statement from K-State Athletics.
Utah struck back in the 50th minute to even up the score, followed by a late goal in the 85th minute, allowing the Utes to leave Manhattan with the victory.
“It felt like in the second half, the first 10-15 minutes, we tried to remind them to play the game, to play the game the way we played in the first half,” Dibbini said.
The match was physical as the teams combined for 27 total fouls and seven yellow cards, five of which were assessed to the ‘Cats.
“When you’re pressing aggressively, it puts you in a position of maybe getting calls against you,” Dibbini said. “And so there may have been a few extra yellow cards there, but I thought at the end of the day, I don’t think that really had anything to do with it.”
While K-State likes to play aggressively, being smart with its presses and tackle opportunities will be something to key in on as the season continues.
Utah outshot K-State just 17-13 but held a wide margin on the shots on goal at 10-3, making goalkeeper Murphy Sheaff have another impressive game with eight saves.
After the tough loss, K-State will have to regroup quickly before another home game against BYU at 7 p.m. on Monday. The Wildcats are still searching for their first conference win.
“We will continue to push forward on what we’re doing here, and not lose sight and focus of that and stay disciplined on playing on our front foot for longer periods of time and don’t get into that shallow defending,” Dibbini said.
