Kansas State University Athletics
Thursday, October 2
Lawrence, Kan.
6 p.m.
Kansas State University
5-4-2, 0-3-1
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at
4
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Kansas
8-2-2, 2-2-0
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2
F
Kansas St.
1
0
1
Kansas
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4
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Photo by: K-State Photo
Early Lead Not Enough for K-State in Sunflower Showdown
Oct 02, 2025 | Soccer
LAWRENCE, Kansas – K-State went in front with its earliest goal of the season on Thursday night in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown at Rock Chalk Park, but Kansas used a pair of goals in each half to secure a 4-1 win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- K-State (5-4-2, 0-3-1 Big 12) went up in the eighth minute of the match, as senior Jayce Woodward played a through ball to senior forward Andra Mohler. Mohler outran the Jayhawk defense and tapped the ball outside of the reach of goalkeeper Sophie Dawe. Mohler then finished from six yards into the open frame.
- The goal by Mohler was the earliest goal of the season for the Wildcats and the fifth of the season in an opening half. The tally ended a season-high scoreless streak of 313:07 with the last goal coming against Colorado College on September 11.
- This was Mohler's first career goal in Big 12 action and her third this season.
- Mohler and junior Rilyn Rintoul each had chances to increase the K-State lead to 2-0 in the first half, as Mohler had a one-on-one with the Jayhawk keeper that was barely deflected wide, while Rintoul's chance narrowly missed the left post from inside 10 yards.
- In the 32nd minute, Kansas (8-2-2, 2-2-0 Big 12) squared the match on a penalty kick by Jillian Gregorski. This was the first time this season K-State allowed a first half goal, coming in the 11th match of the season.
- Kansas went in front, 2-1, in the 42nd minute following a deflection of a shot. Emika Kawagishi attempted a shot that was blocked by a K-State defender. The ball popped into the air just outside the 18-yard box. KU's Becca Smith eventually gathered possession and scored from 17 yards into the lower left corner.
- This was the first time K-State has trailed at halftime in the Colleen Corbin era.
- Kansas added an insurance goal in the 67th minute, as cross streaked across the K-State goal mouth and found the open foot of Livvy Moore.
- The Jayhawks' Smith notched her second goal of the night in the 75th minute to up the lead to 4-1.
- The Jayhawks held a 20-7 advantage in total shots, including a 10-4 edge in shots on goal.
QUICK FACTS
- Kansas leads the series with K-State, 6-2-2. Head coach Colleen Corbin faced Kansas for the first time as a head coach in her career.
- The Wildcats are 9-59-8 all-time in Big 12 Conference matches.
- Corbin is 27-28-14 in her three career seasons as a head coach, including a 5-4-2 mark at K-State.
- K-State is 17-54-15 in its history in road matches including a 2-2-2 record this season.
- The Wildcats are 7-42-4 in its history in matches played in the month of October.
PLAYER NOTES
- Mohler registered her fifth career goal, moving her into a tie for sixth in program history for career goals. She is the ninth player in program history to score five or more goals in a career.
- Mohler has 12 points in her career.
- With her one shot on goal on Thursday, Mohler improved her career total to 23 and is in sole possession of 10th in program history for career shots on goal.
- Woodward tallied her first career assist.
- Woodward made her first start of the 2025 season and the third of her K-State career.
- Goalkeeper Maddie Sibbing has made five or more saves in a match nine times in her career and this marked the third time this season.
- Junior defender Reece Walrod made her 34th consecutive start on Thursday, the longest active streak of any Wildcat.
- Senior midfielder Paige Dickson made her 29th consecutive start on Thursday.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Colleen Corbin
On the early goal getting rid of the first half demons…
"I hope so. That's what I told the group just now. There's obviously a lot of disappointment and a lot of frustration, but we also have to keep in perspective scoring first and being on the front foot and setting the tone like that was a focal point for us coming into this game. So that's for sure, a positive to take away. And I'm happy for Andra, because she's been working her tail off, and I'm glad that she got rewarded, but we also generated a lot more that we could have capitalized on early, and I think that would have changed the momentum of the game. So it's a tough lesson to learn. But also, again, I'm happy for the group, and I'm happy for Mo that she was able to get a goal early and to kind of set the tone."
On missed chances in the first half…
"We trained it. We trained it. We talked about it all week. We set up those scenarios in training. So again, it's fun to see it kind of come to life on the pitch on game night. But we've talked about execution. We've talked about confidence and relentlessness and just being the hunter and not the hunted. And those are the moments where we got to execute. Because, to your point again, if it's a 2-0 or 3-0 game, 20 minutes in, then it's completely different."
On late first half goal by Kansas …
"We've been hit with some unfortunate ones, and the only thing I can tell the group is, whether we like it or not, it's part of our journey. And so, going into halftime, we felt like, 'alright, well, it's not going to be a shutout, so we just gotta go score more goals than them' at that point. And we felt like, again, we had put them under and we had caused them problems, and we had them chasing, and I think we came out flat in the second half, which is a bummer. That's a hard pill to swallow. So, it didn't feel like it took a hit to our psyche. Obviously, it's disappointing. You don't want to give up another goal that late in the half, but we really did feel like we had momentum, and then we just didn't leverage it going into the second half."
On what needs to improve for Sunday …
"I think we allowed them way too much space to play into. I felt like we needed to be more intentional about as the ball travels, we got to travel with the ball and close the space. I also felt like when we got frustrated, we got away from the goal of trying to keep the ball and just connect with our friends. And so just going back and watching that, and being able to show some clips about what it looks like when it works, and what it looks like when it doesn't work, and then just like, the mindset right? Like, yes, we had momentum, yes, we were on the front foot, and then expecting that those things are going to change throughout a 90-minute match. And just being able to kind of weather that and still not lose our identity, or lose sight of the goals that we're trying to achieve so and that's just going to be a constant work in progress, which is, again, tough, but part of the journey."
UP NEXT
K-State will embark on a three-match road trip, as the Wildcats will face (14) Kansas in the 2025 edition of the Dillons Sunflower Showdown on Thursday in Lawrence at 6 p.m. The Wildcats will continue the weekend at UCF on Sunday, October 5, at 12 p.m. (CT). Both matches will stream on ESPN+.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- K-State (5-4-2, 0-3-1 Big 12) went up in the eighth minute of the match, as senior Jayce Woodward played a through ball to senior forward Andra Mohler. Mohler outran the Jayhawk defense and tapped the ball outside of the reach of goalkeeper Sophie Dawe. Mohler then finished from six yards into the open frame.
- The goal by Mohler was the earliest goal of the season for the Wildcats and the fifth of the season in an opening half. The tally ended a season-high scoreless streak of 313:07 with the last goal coming against Colorado College on September 11.
- This was Mohler's first career goal in Big 12 action and her third this season.
- Mohler and junior Rilyn Rintoul each had chances to increase the K-State lead to 2-0 in the first half, as Mohler had a one-on-one with the Jayhawk keeper that was barely deflected wide, while Rintoul's chance narrowly missed the left post from inside 10 yards.
- In the 32nd minute, Kansas (8-2-2, 2-2-0 Big 12) squared the match on a penalty kick by Jillian Gregorski. This was the first time this season K-State allowed a first half goal, coming in the 11th match of the season.
- Kansas went in front, 2-1, in the 42nd minute following a deflection of a shot. Emika Kawagishi attempted a shot that was blocked by a K-State defender. The ball popped into the air just outside the 18-yard box. KU's Becca Smith eventually gathered possession and scored from 17 yards into the lower left corner.
- This was the first time K-State has trailed at halftime in the Colleen Corbin era.
- Kansas added an insurance goal in the 67th minute, as cross streaked across the K-State goal mouth and found the open foot of Livvy Moore.
- The Jayhawks' Smith notched her second goal of the night in the 75th minute to up the lead to 4-1.
- The Jayhawks held a 20-7 advantage in total shots, including a 10-4 edge in shots on goal.
QUICK FACTS
- Kansas leads the series with K-State, 6-2-2. Head coach Colleen Corbin faced Kansas for the first time as a head coach in her career.
- The Wildcats are 9-59-8 all-time in Big 12 Conference matches.
- Corbin is 27-28-14 in her three career seasons as a head coach, including a 5-4-2 mark at K-State.
- K-State is 17-54-15 in its history in road matches including a 2-2-2 record this season.
- The Wildcats are 7-42-4 in its history in matches played in the month of October.
PLAYER NOTES
- Mohler registered her fifth career goal, moving her into a tie for sixth in program history for career goals. She is the ninth player in program history to score five or more goals in a career.
- Mohler has 12 points in her career.
- With her one shot on goal on Thursday, Mohler improved her career total to 23 and is in sole possession of 10th in program history for career shots on goal.
- Woodward tallied her first career assist.
- Woodward made her first start of the 2025 season and the third of her K-State career.
- Goalkeeper Maddie Sibbing has made five or more saves in a match nine times in her career and this marked the third time this season.
- Junior defender Reece Walrod made her 34th consecutive start on Thursday, the longest active streak of any Wildcat.
- Senior midfielder Paige Dickson made her 29th consecutive start on Thursday.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Colleen Corbin
On the early goal getting rid of the first half demons…
"I hope so. That's what I told the group just now. There's obviously a lot of disappointment and a lot of frustration, but we also have to keep in perspective scoring first and being on the front foot and setting the tone like that was a focal point for us coming into this game. So that's for sure, a positive to take away. And I'm happy for Andra, because she's been working her tail off, and I'm glad that she got rewarded, but we also generated a lot more that we could have capitalized on early, and I think that would have changed the momentum of the game. So it's a tough lesson to learn. But also, again, I'm happy for the group, and I'm happy for Mo that she was able to get a goal early and to kind of set the tone."
On missed chances in the first half…
"We trained it. We trained it. We talked about it all week. We set up those scenarios in training. So again, it's fun to see it kind of come to life on the pitch on game night. But we've talked about execution. We've talked about confidence and relentlessness and just being the hunter and not the hunted. And those are the moments where we got to execute. Because, to your point again, if it's a 2-0 or 3-0 game, 20 minutes in, then it's completely different."
On late first half goal by Kansas …
"We've been hit with some unfortunate ones, and the only thing I can tell the group is, whether we like it or not, it's part of our journey. And so, going into halftime, we felt like, 'alright, well, it's not going to be a shutout, so we just gotta go score more goals than them' at that point. And we felt like, again, we had put them under and we had caused them problems, and we had them chasing, and I think we came out flat in the second half, which is a bummer. That's a hard pill to swallow. So, it didn't feel like it took a hit to our psyche. Obviously, it's disappointing. You don't want to give up another goal that late in the half, but we really did feel like we had momentum, and then we just didn't leverage it going into the second half."
On what needs to improve for Sunday …
"I think we allowed them way too much space to play into. I felt like we needed to be more intentional about as the ball travels, we got to travel with the ball and close the space. I also felt like when we got frustrated, we got away from the goal of trying to keep the ball and just connect with our friends. And so just going back and watching that, and being able to show some clips about what it looks like when it works, and what it looks like when it doesn't work, and then just like, the mindset right? Like, yes, we had momentum, yes, we were on the front foot, and then expecting that those things are going to change throughout a 90-minute match. And just being able to kind of weather that and still not lose our identity, or lose sight of the goals that we're trying to achieve so and that's just going to be a constant work in progress, which is, again, tough, but part of the journey."
UP NEXT
K-State will embark on a three-match road trip, as the Wildcats will face (14) Kansas in the 2025 edition of the Dillons Sunflower Showdown on Thursday in Lawrence at 6 p.m. The Wildcats will continue the weekend at UCF on Sunday, October 5, at 12 p.m. (CT). Both matches will stream on ESPN+.
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.
Team Stats
KSU
KAN
Goals
1
4
Shots
7
20
Shots on Goal
4
10
Saves
5
3
Corners
1
7
Fouls
16
12
Scoring Plays
Andra Mohler (3)
Assisted By: Jayce Woodward
GOAL by KSU Mohler, Andra Assist by Woodward, Jayce.
07:20
.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
Jillian Gregorski (4)
KAN Jillian Gregorski PENALTY KICK GOAL.
31:21
Becca Smith (2)
Assisted By: Jordan Fjelstad , Jordan Rowan
GOAL by KAN Smith, Becca Assist by Fjelstad, Jordan and Rowan, Jordan.
41:54
Livvy Moore (3)
Assisted By: Faith Johnston , Saige Wimes
GOAL by KAN Moore, Livvy Assist by Johnston, Faith and Wimes, Saige.
66:33
Becca Smith (2)
Assisted By: Jillian Gregorski , Caroline Castans
GOAL by KAN Smith, Becca Assist by Gregorski, Jillian and Castans, Caroline.
74:11
Game Leaders
Shots
3
SOG
1
Goals
1
Assists
0
Shots
0
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
1
Shots
2
SOG
1
Goals
0
Assists
0
Shots
1
SOG
1
Goals
0
Assists
0
Players Mentioned
M
/ SoccerF
/ SoccerF
/ Soccer
GK
/ Soccer
D
/ SoccerM
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