Women’s Soccer Falls to Kansas 4-1 in Regular Season Home Opener

The Loyola women’s soccer team took to the pitch at home Sunday afternoon for the first time this regular season where they fell 4-1 to the Kansas University Jayhawks. 

The Jayhawks jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the 67th minute of play and never looked back, following a goal scored by first-year forward Montelene Dymond. With the defeat, the Ramblers fall to 0-2 on the season following a loss on the road to the University of Illinois Aug. 17. 

The Ramblers lone goal was netted by fifth-year forward Amanda Cassidy on a free kick which followed a Jayhawk yellow card at the top of the box early in the second half. Loyola struck first and opened up scoring with Cassidy’s goal after both teams were shut out in the first half. 

Kansas answered right back and tied the game less than two minutes later on a goal scored by sophomore forward Lexi Watts. Just 40 seconds later, Dymond knocked her goal in the back of the net, breaking the tie and propelling the Jayhawks to an explosive second half on offense. 

In the 79th minute, Kansas forward Hallie Klanke, a redshirt junior, scored the game’s fourth goal on a breakaway down the right side of the field, shooting the ball just past the reach of Loyola goalkeeper Naya Lipkens and extending the Jayhawks lead to 3-1.

In the final minutes of the match, Jayhawk junior midfielder Magali Gagne knocked in a dagger to bring the score to 4-1, putting the game firmly out of reach for the Ramblers. 

Loyola only managed to get off eight total shots as opposed to Kansas’ 22 — the Ramblers finished with four shots on goal while Kansas outpaced them with 10. 

Ramblers goalkeeper Lipkens, a fifth-year, did her best to keep the Ramblers in the game as she managed to keep the Jayhawks off the scoreboard in the first half despite a consistent, hard-pressing offensive attack. She finished the match with four saves bringing her regular season total to seven. 

Following the final whistle, head coach Barry Bimbi — now in his 13th season at Loyola — said he thought the team lost focus once they had the lead following their initial goal.

“There was no concentration on killing the game — what it takes to win in little moments — but we have a lot of young players on the field so we’ve gotta grow in those moments,” he said. ”Kansas, they made us pay for lack of focus all over the field, but we will get better and hopefully teach them and move forward.”

Looking ahead to a road trip through Ohio next weekend, Bimbi said they are going to celebrate the good moments from the game and try to work on correcting missed opportunities and moments they weren’t able to execute.

“I think going into the weekend, it’s, ‘Can we get better?’” Bimbi said. “This early part of the season is, ‘Are we playing our best soccer when we hit conference play?’ You know, obviously results do matter, but are we in a position to get results in conference play? So we will tweak some things.”

The Loyola women’s soccer team will travel to take on University of Toledo Aug. 24. Kick-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. 

Featured image by Aidan Cahill | The Phoenix