K-State Hosts Utah on Thursday Night

GAME #14
Utah (5-4-4, 2-2-2 Big 12) at Kansas State (3-7-3, 0-4-2 Big 12)
Thursday, October 10, 2024 | 7 p.m. | Buser Family Park | Manhattan, Kan.

TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
Junior Wildcat Day

Tickets: kstatesports.com/tickets or (800) 221-CATS

TELEVISION
ESPN+
Play-by-Play: Brian Smoller
Analyst: Oscar Montenegro
Sideline: Sophie Smith

LIVE STATS
www.kstatesports.com

SERIES HISTORY vs. Utah
0-0-0
• First meeting in the series
• Head coach Mike Dibbini is facing Utah for the first time in his career.
• Current streak: -

Head-to-Head

Utah		K-State
5-4-4, 2-2-2 Big 12	W-L-D	3-7-3, 0-4-2 Big 12
WDDLL	Last 5	DDLLL
1.62	Goals/Game	1.15
10.5	Shots/Game	12.0
.154	Shot %	.096
.463	SOG %	.436
1.08	Goals Allowed/Game	1.15
3.0	Saves/Game	5.15
.741	Save %	.817

MANHATTAN, Kansas - K-State (3-7-3, 0-4-2 Big 12) will host a pair of matches in Week 9 against foes from the Beehive State. The Wildcats begin the weekend by hosting Utah (5-4-4, 2-2-2) on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

• Thursday night is Junior Wildcat Day. The first 100 fans in attendance will receive purple Vuvuzelas.
• Thursday's match can be seen live on ESPN+, as Brian Smoller (play-by-play), Oscar Montenegro (analyst) and Sophie Smith (sideline) will have the call.

Last Time Out
• In Week 8 of the season, K-State had one matchup on its slate and came away with a road 0-0 draw on Sunday, Oct. 6, at Iowa State.
- With the draw, K-State ended a six-match Big 12 road losing streak dating back to a road win at Baylor on Oct. 9, 2022.
- The second straight league draw for the Wildcats marked the first time since 2021 that K-State has recorded consecutive draws in Big 12 play. K-State has tallied two draws in league play in three of the last four seasons.
- K-State recorded a season-high nine corner kicks at Iowa State. The nine corner kicks were the most since carding 12 at Green Bay on August 17, 2023. The nine corner kicks were the second-most in a Big 12 match in program history.
• Junior goalkeeper Murphy Sheaff carded her fourth shutout this season and her eighth in her time at K-State.
• With her fourth shutout of the season, Sheaff equaled her K-State high from last season and is tied for fifth in program history for shutouts in a single season.
- K-State has held opponents without a goal in 13 halves this season.

At a Glance: Utah
• Utah (5-4-4, 2-2-2 Big 12) is unbeaten in its last three matches (1-0-2) following a 4-1 win at Arizona State on Oct. 4.
• The Utes are led on the sideline by fourth-year head coach Hideki Nakada. During his time in Salt Lake City, Nakada has guided the squad to a 23-29-20 record.
• Utah is led in scoring this season by Taliana Kaufusi with 10 goals and one assist (21 points). Kaufusi leads the Big 12 in goals and is tied for the league lead in points.

Happy Helpers
• K-State has been in a giving mood this season, as the Wildcats have handed out 16 assists on 15 goals which is 1.33 assists per game.
• The 16 assists are third-most in a season in program history. Of the 16 assists, 11 different players have tallied at least one which is the second-most in program history behind the record of 12 in 2021.
• K-State has scored one unassisted goal this season, a free kick from Ryann Reynolds at Portland State on Aug. 22.
• During Week 3 of the season against Green Bay and South Dakota, the Wildcats recorded 11 assists on nine goals with six assists against the Phoenix and five against the Coyotes. The six assists against Green Bay tied the school record for assists in a match.
• Among active Wildcats, seven players rank among the top-12 in school history for career assists: Adah Anderson (5; tied for 6th), Porter List (4; tied for 9th), Riley Baker (4; tied for 9th), Kiran Singh (4, tied for 9th), Kenzi Gillispie (3; tied for 12th), Jo Sees (3; tied for 12th) and Morgan Struttmann (3; tied for 12th).

K-State Posts Blank Scoresheets
• K-State has logged four shutouts during the 2024 season.
• The Wildcats kept Portland State scoreless in a 2-0 road win on Aug. 22 and the following week carded a home 3-0 shutout win against South Dakota on Sept. 1. K-State recorded a 0-0 draw at Arkansas State on Sept. 5, marking consecutive shutouts for the first time this season.
• K-State recorded a season-best 285:48 stretch of shutout soccer, dating from Aug. 29 to Sept. 8.
• The Wildcats collected their first Big 12 shutout of 2024 in a 0-0 draw at Iowa State. It was the first league shutout since Oct. 5, 2023 against Houston.
• The Wildcats registered an historic run of holding opponents off the scoreboard early in the 2023 season.
• K-State registered three consecutive shutouts for the third time in program history and the first time since the 2021 season. In total the Wildcats held its foes scoreless for a school record 416:44 of game action, which was the final 80:17 of play against Green Bay and the next three and a half matches, ending in the second half at Vanderbilt on Aug. 31.
• In its nine seasons of action, the Wildcats have registered 43 shutouts. Kansas State owns an all-time record of 30-0-13 in games allowing zero goals.

Blank Sheaff
• Junior goalkeeper Murphy Sheaff has added a handful of shutouts to her career ledger this season.
• At Portland State on Aug. 22, Sheaff made six saves to record her first shutout of 2024. Against South Dakota on Sept. 1, Sheaff made two saves for her second shutout this season. Her final shutout of non-con play came at Arkansas State on Sept. 5, a six-save performance.
• At Iowa State on Oct. 6, Sheaff pocketed a comfortable four saves to earn her second career shutout in Big 12 action.
• Sheaff owns 13 shutouts in her collegiate career, notching eight at K-State and five at Jacksonville. She ranks fourth in school history for career shutouts.
• Against 19th-ranked Colorado on Sept. 12, Sheaff recorded a season-high 12 saves. The effort equaled her career-high for saves in a match and tied for the second-most saves in a match in program history.
• The product of Sunshine Coast, Australia, has 15 matches at K-State with five or more saves. Sheaff has 149 saves in her two seasons with the Wildcats and ranks third in program history for career saves.
• For the season, Sheaff leads the Big 12 and ranks 20th in the nation with 67 saves and ranks second in the Big 12 for saves per game (5.15). She is 28th in the nation for goalie minutes at 1080:00.
• In the 2023 season Sheaff finished her first season in the Little Apple by playing in and starting all 18 matches. Her total minutes in frame (1,590:29) ranked fourth in school history for a single season.
• She faced the second most shots in a single season (291) in program history and the most by a K-State keeper since 2017.
• Sheaff carded the fourth-best goals against average in a single season in school history (1.30). Her 82 saves were also the fourth most in a single season.
• Sheaff was second in the Big 12 and ranked 71st in the nation for total saves (82) and was second in the league for saves per game (4.56).
• She was second in school history for shutouts in a sophomore season (4).
• At BYU on October 10, Sheaff recorded a career-high 12 saves. Her 12 saves were the most in a match last season by any goalkeeper in the Big 12. She tied for the second-most saves in a match in program history and were the most since Alaina Werremeyer set the school record with 13 against Baylor on October 10, 2021.
• Early in the 2023 season, Sheaff carded a career-best streak and school record of 416:44 of shutout soccer. This surpassed her previous high of 325:28 last season at Jacksonville.
• She hauled in five saves at 18th-ranked Northwestern on August 20 to register the first of three straight shutouts.
• Sheaff was the second goalkeeper in program history to card a shutout against a ranked opponent, joining Alaina Werremeyer's 2021 shutout of 23rd-ranked Baylor.

How to follow the Cats: For complete information on K-State Soccer, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Adah Anderson

Riley Baker

Kenzi Gillispie

Porter List

Ryann Reynolds

Jo Sees

Murphy Sheaff

Kiran Singh

Morgan Struttmann

Kansas State University Athletics