No. 17 Tech, KU, meet for spot in Big 12 Championship Match
KANSAS CITY – After a dramatic 2-1 victory over Baylor, No. 17 Texas Tech Soccer faces Kansas Wednesday night in the Big 12 Semifinals hosted by CPKC Stadium. First touch is set for 7 p.m.
Seeking their first Big 12 title game appearance, Texas Tech will face Kansas for the first time this season and for the first time since the 2022 season. Tech advanced to the Big 12 Semifinals by virtue of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Baylor, while the Jayhawks used a pair of one-goal wins over Arizona State (2-1) and West Virginia (1-0, 2 OT) to reach this point.
If victorious on Wednesday night, Tech would advance to meet the winner of No. 7 TCU and BYU on Saturday night. The Horned Frogs and Cougars will face off in Wednesday’s first Semifinal match at 4:30 p.m.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
MATCHUP: No. 17 Texas Tech (14-3-2) vs. Kansas (11-5-4)
DATE: Nov. 6, 2024
TIME: 7 p.m.
LOCATION: CPKC Stadium (Kansas City, Mo.)
LAST TIME OUT:
A Taylor Zdrojewski header and a clutch rebound goal from Storie Sexton powered No. 17 Texas Tech Soccer to a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Baylor Saturday in the Quarterfinals of the 2024 Sprouts Farmers Market Big 12 Championships.
With the victory, second-seeded Texas Tech (14-3-2) advances to the Semifinals on Wednesday night against Kansas, who defeated WVU 1-0 in double OT on Saturday. The Red Raiders semifinals appearance is their fifth in the last six years.
Down 1-0 after Baylor (8-8-5) struck in the fifth minute, the Red Raiders answered just 13 seconds into the 10th minute when Macy Blackburn made a run and whipped in a perfect ball that connected with Zdrojewski’s head and into the back of the net.
Despite multiple incredible chances to score, the game remained 1-1 until the last 15 seconds of the first half when a late corner kick was awarded. In the setback Baylor’s Azul Alvarez made seven saves on 21 total Texas Tech shots. In addition, the Bears backline was credited with a save.
With the clock stopped, Peyton Parsons delivered a perfect near post service that bounced off a Baylor defender and to the feet of Sexton. In one motion, the forward ripped a shot that was initially ruled no goal. Upon the conclusion of the first half and after VAR review the goal was called.
Up 2-1 at the half, the Red Raiders nearly went up 3-1 in the 66th minute when Zdrojewski nearly beat Azul near post, but the goalkeeper stepped up and made the save.
In the 83rd minute, goalkeeper Faith Nguyen made the save of the match, diving to her left to deflect a low line drive shot from Tyler Isgirg. The save was one of three the goalkeeper made to earn her 12th victory of the season.
With the victory, the Red Raiders won 14 matches in a season for the second straight year and eighth time under coach Tom Stone.
QUICK KICKS:
• Fresh off a strong 2-1 victory over Baylor in Saturday’s Quarterfinals, Texas Tech Soccer will seek its first berth in the Big 12 Championship Match since 2015, and just the second all-time Big 12 Championship Game appearance. The Red Raiders lone title game appearance, came in 2015, when the Red Raiders defeated KU, 1-0.
• With the victory on Saturday, the Red Raiders advanced to the Big 12 Semifinals for the fifth time in six events. The last time Tech failed to make the Big 12 was 2022 when they were defeated 1-0 by OU on a goal with eight seconds to play.
• Wednesday’s matchup with Kansas will be the first this season between Tech and KU, as the Jayhawks were one of four teams (Arizona, Arizona State, Kansas and UCF) that Tech did not see this season. In fact, the matchup between Tech and KU is the first in over two full calendar years. Tech last played KU on Oct. 16, 2022 in Lawrence. Tech won that match, 2-0.
• Saturday’s victory over Baylor featured a first this season for the Red Raiders, as the team earned its first true come-from-behind victory of the season. The Red Raiders allowed BU to strike first on Saturday in the fifth minute, but Taylor Zdrojewski’s 10th minute strike quickly equalized the match. Sophomore Storie Sexton put the Red Raiders on top for good when he 45th-minute strike, just eight seconds before the final whistle to end the half gave Tech a 2-1 lead.
• With Saturday’s victory over Baylor the Red Raiders improved to 30-1-9 the last 40 matches when scoring at least one goal. The one loss over that span was Oct. 25’s setback to BYU. Of course, not only did Tech score once, it scored twice on Saturday, marking the 34th consecutive result (33-0-1) when scoring twice. The Red Raiders lone non-win in the span was last season’s 2-2 draw at BYU.
• Following the conclusion of the regular season, the Red Raiders were well represented in the final Big 12 awards as defender Macy Blackburn earned Big 12 Defender of the Year while eight different Red Raiders earned All-Conference honors. The group included four First Team All-Big 12 selections and three Second Team All-Big 12 selections.
• The Red Raiders four First Team selections included GK Faith Nguyen, D Macy Blackburn, MF Peyton Parsons and F Ashleigh Williams. Both Williams and Blackburn earned First Team All-Big 12 honors for the second-straight season, while Nguyen and Parsons earned their first all-time honors.
• Defender Cassie Taylor, Midfielder Jillian Martinez and Forward Taylor Zdrojewski were Tech’s three second team all-conference honorees. Freshman Peyton Dyess was Tech’s eighth and final honoree, as the freshman earned All-Big 12 Freshman honors.
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Release Provided By Andrew Stern Texas Tech Athletics