Kansas State has started a new era of soccer with the recent head coach hire, Colleen Corbin and is turning heads early on this season.
The Wildcats have held every opponent scoreless so far, which makes them just one of two Division 1 programs to do so this season.
“The team’s competitive mindset and relentless work rate to keep the ball out of the back of our own goal has been a work in progress since the beginning of the spring,” Corbin said. “It’s been really fun to watch the team continue to take great pride in earning shutouts.”
The goalkeeper this season is Maddie Sibbing, a sophomore who transferred in from the Kansas City Roos and has put the Wildcats’ goal on lock.
While Sibbing has 14 saves in five games this year as the goalie, a lot of credit is deserved by the K-State backline for not allowing scoring opportunities for the other team. The group working together as a whole is clicking well to start the season.
“Maddie [Sibbing] is an incredibly talented goalkeeper,” Corbin said. “Having a goalkeeper of her caliber in [the] net gives the rest of our backline a lot of confidence in the decisions they are making. The shutouts that are being earned have definitely been a group effort. Having her in goal is a huge bonus for us.”
To win games, however, the team needs to put the ball in the back of the net, and K-State has done a great job of that this season.
In the first four games this season, the Wildcats scored at least two goals in each game, including a season high of four goals against UMass Lowell. The leading scorer on the year is Hannah Palmer, who has notched three goals on the season.
“Hannah continues to train and play with an incredibly high work rate and a relentless mindset to get forward and score goals, and it shows,” Corbin said. “She has the ability to create something out of nothing and to score all different types of goals. She is absolutely a threat that teams will need to continue to account for, and we’re very happy she’s a Wildcat.”
The Wildcats have had seven different players score a goal this year, which makes them a difficult matchup for any team due to their versatility on offense and stinginess on defense.
This season, K-State won over Oral Roberts, Portland State, South Dakota and UMass Lowell. The most recent game was against Harvard, which ended in a 0-0 tie, pushing their record to 4-0-1.
The Wildcats will look to keep their momentum going as they finish up their long four-game road trip on Sunday, Sept. 7, against Nebraska. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
