BROOKINGS South Dakota State dropped their season opener to Kansas by a score of 2-1 at the Fishback Soccer Complex on Thursday night but the Jackrabbits left with plenty to be encouraged about entering the 2024 season.
Laney Murdzek scored a goal on a free kick to give SDSU an early lead and although the Jayhawks battled back for a victory, Jackrabbits head coach Brock Thompson believes his can improve if they can master the messy moments.
I thought the difference was that Kansas was really committed to some of those messy moments, second balls and transition moments in the middle stretch of the game, Thompson said. I thought they really excelled at that and to their credit, they got a couple of goals from it.
Murdzeks goal was set up a few minutes prior when Mia Boschs shot was saved by Sophie Dawe and went out of bounds. After a corner kick, Murdzek drew a foul on Saige Wimes and scored on the free kick to give SDSU the lead at 19:08.
Kansas responded quickly, however, when Jillian Gregorski scored with assists from Shea Ryan and Lexi Watts at 22:31 and took the lead 12 minutes later when Ryan scored from Gregorski and Emika Kawagishi to put the Jayhawks up for good.
A 30-minute lightning delay preceded the Jayhawks taking their 2-1 lead into halftime and although SDSU couldnt find the equalizer, they had their opportunities including a shot by Katelyn Beulke that went just wide of the net in the 74th minute and another shot by Adrianne Agbayani that went wide of the net within the 85th minute.
I thought as the second half went on, we got better in those moments, Thompson said. I think you saw us get a little bit of our footing in the second half.
Murdzek finished with the lone goal and a team-high four shots for SDSU, who out-shot the Jayhawks 13-12 in the game. SDSU also had a 6-0 advantage in corner kicks as Kansas out-fouled the Jacks 13-6.
Lauerne Eckerle, Avery Murdzek and Bosch each had two shots for SDSU and Stephanie Leckwold made three saves in the first half. Emma Knack had one save playing in net during the second half.
Watts led Kansas with four shots while Lauren Wood had three shots. Gregorski and Ryan each had two shots while Ebba Cronholm had one shot. Dawe had four saves to earn the win for Kansas.
After the loss, the Jacks will head to Northern Colorado for a matchup in Greeley at 8 p.m. Monday night. While they wont go in with a 1-0 record, Thompson believed his team had plenty to build on as they look to gain momentum during the non-conference schedule.
I think you saw that this team can play a great brand of soccer against anybody in the country, Thompson said. We just have to be a little bit grittier in some of the transition moments so we dont let teams be on the ball quite as easily as they did tonight.
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