KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KUAthletics.com) – Kansas soccer won its second Big 12 Tournament title in program history with a 1-0 victory against No. 7 TCU in the title match of the conference tournament at CPKC Stadium on Saturday night. Makayla Merlo scored a goal on a penalty kick in the 66th minute.
With the win, Kansas (13-5-4) has clinched its spot in the 2024 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship. Nate Lie became the first head coach in Big 12 soccer history to win the tournament championship in their first year leading a program.
“I just told the team, amongst the celebration, that this is one of the more special moments in my career and my life in many ways,” Lie said. “You get into this profession because you want to have an impact on people’s lives and you want to be some sort of educator and see growth. I’ve spoken about it a lot, the growth in this group is pretty remarkable. The way that they came together, whether it was earlier in the season in our moments of adversity or just continuing throughout this tournament. Four victories in 11 days is really hard to do especially when you have to play the one, two and three seeds back-to-back-to-back.”
Kansas and TCU battled back and forth in the first half. TCU had a few good opportunities, but Kansas was able to withstand them. The game was tied 0-0 at half and TCU led 6-2 on shots.
In the 66th minute, Lexi Watts pressured the goalkeeper and was able to steal the ball at the top of the box. She forced a foul by TCU in the box that drew a penalty. After video review, the penalty was confirmed. Merlo took the penalty kick for Kansas and put it inside the right post to give Kansas a 1-0 lead.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Merlo said about her goal. “Just stepped up and hoped that it went in. Credit to Lexi for getting the penalty. All the work that she puts in really shows out on the field. Credit to her.”
TCU fought down the stretch to find the equalizer, but the Kansas defense stood strong and held the 1-0 lead for the final 24 minutes. Although TCU outshot Kansas 17-7, the Jayhawks were the only team able to find the back of the net. TCU fell to 16-3-2 on the season.
Following the game, Watts was named Most Outstanding Offensive Player and Sophie Dawe won Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
NOTES
• Kansas won its second Big 12 Tournament in program history. The other came in 2019 when the tournament was last held in Kansas City.
• Kansas punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time in program history and the first since 2019.
• Kansas extended its win streak to eight consecutive matches. That is tied for the longest winning streak in the country. The last time Kansas won eight matches in a row was Aug. 22-Sept. 14, 2014.
• Kansas has outscored opponents 16-3 during the eight-match winning streak.
• Kansas earned its 13th win of the season. The last time Kansas had double-digit wins was 2019 (17).
• Kansas improved to 12-14-5 all-time in the Big 12 Championship.
• Kansas is now 6-3-2 as a No. 6 seed in the Big 12 Championship.
• Kansas earned its first penalty kick of the season.
• Kansas has nine shutouts as a team this season.
• Kansas had lost the previous five matches against TCU. Before tonight, the most recent win for Kansas against TCU was to claim the 2019 Big 12 Tournament title on Nov. 10, 2019 in a 1-0 victory.
• Merlo scored her first goal of the season.
• Dawe secured her eighth shutout of the season. She finished with four saves in the match. Her eight shutouts are the most by a Kansas goalkeeper since Sarah Peters in 2019 (11).
UP NEXT
Kansas will wait to see where it’s headed for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The 2024 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Selection Show will air on Monday, Nov. 11 at 3 p.m. CT on NCAA.com. The first round will be played on Nov. 15, 16 or 17.
