WSU Soccer ended their undefeated streak with a 2-1 loss against Seattle Thursday night at the Lower Soccer Field. But the Cougars could not be held down for long. On Sunday in Lawrence, Kansas, WSU rallied and defeated Kansas 3-0 in their first-ever contest against the Jayhawks. 

The win did not come easy to Seattle as the Cougars attempted 25 total shots during the game. WSU fell to 15-2-1 all-time against the Redhawks. Despite a strong Cougar defense that allowed just six shots by Seattle, the Redhawks edged out the Cougars in the 81st minute.  

The loss ended a 10-match unbeaten streak at home for the Cougs, with the last loss at home occurring pre-pandemic to Arizona on Oct. 10, 2019. 

The match started off slowly with no goals in the first half. 

In the 55th minute, after shots by junior midfielder Grayson Lynch and fifth-year forward Elyse Bennett, junior forward Enzi Broussard scored her first career goal for the Cougars. Broussard was assisted by junior defender Bridget Rieken.

Just 5 minutes later, Seattle sophomore Hallie Bergford scored a goal. Freshman Sydney Carr assisted Bergford in her goal. After that, play heated up with two fouls on WSU and three fouls on Seattle. Redhawk freshman Kait Raffensperger and Cougar senior defender Mykiaa Minniss both received yellow cards. 

Ten minutes away from the end of the match, Seattle notched the victory by scoring another goal. Redhawk freshman Jourdyn Curran, assisted by junior Michele Adam, scored her first goal of the season for Seattle. 

In the last 10 minutes, the Cougars attempted three shots but did not score any goals against a fierce Seattle defense. The end of the game saw fouls both by WSU and Seattle with a final corner kick by the Cougars marking the end of the game. 

“Thursday night, which you know, was still was hard to swallow. Thursday night was disappointing,” Head Coach Todd Shulenberger said.

The Cougars quickly rebounded to win against Kansas, improving their all-time record against Big 12 opponents to 7-4-2. The Cougars did not waste any time with their first goal occurring just 5 minutes into the game by Rieken who was assisted by fifth-year Sydney Pulver. 

Just a minute later, Broussard attempted another shot for the Cougars but the shot was saved by Jayhawk junior goalkeeper Melania Pasar. Bennett attempted a shot in the 19th minute, but the ball went wide. 

The next goal came in the 24th minute thanks to two young players. Sophomore forward Alyssa Gray, assisted by sophomore forward Margie Detrizio, scored the second goal for the Cougars. It was Gray’s third goal of the season. 

The Cougars would attempt two more shots before the end of the period. The Cougars managed more than double the shots of the Jayhawks at the beginning of the game, with eight shots to the Jayhawk’s three during the first period.

The next goal of the night came just 5 minutes into the second half with fifth-year defender Brianna Alger assisting Bennett in the final goal of the night. Ten minutes later, Jayhawk freshman midfielder Raena Childers received a yellow card. 

The Cougars attempted two shots in the last 40 minutes of the game but both were saved by Pasar. The Jayhawks earned another yellow card 81 minutes into the game, with freshman defender Kennidy Tallman receiving the warning. 

Pulver played her 83rd game for the Cougars Sunday night, which is third all-time in games played for the Cougars. Bennett recorded her 20th career strike during the game, which tied Carly Dobratz for 10th all-time in career goals for the Cougars.

“We’re excited where we are at. You know, we leave here healthy and we look forward to another big weekend next weekend,” Shulenberger said. 

Next up for the Cougars are two away matches. WSU plays Denver at 6 p.m. Thursday and Northern Colorado at 10 a.m. Sunday. The match against Denver can be watched live on their website with live stats by Sidearm Sports. The match against Northern Colorado is not available live but stats will be provided by Sidearm Sports.