MANHATTAN, Kansas (K-State Athletics) – K-State sophomore goalkeeper Murphy Sheaff kept a clean sheet for the third straight match, as the Wildcats played to a 0-0 draw against Creighton on Sunday afternoon at Buser Family Park. The Wildcats established a new program high with four straight matches without a loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
– K-State (2-0-2) has tied the school record for consecutive shutouts at three and established a new school record for consecutive shutout minutes with a current duration of 350:17.
– Sheaff finished with two saves on the afternoon, including a dangerous attempt from 16 yards by Creighton (0-2-2) in the 26th minute which she parried away.
– K-State increased its offensive tempo and production in the second half, outshooting the Bluejays 12-7 in the second half. The Wildcats recorded all five of its shots on goal in the second half.
– The best opportunity for K-State in the second half came off the foot of Jazmin Brown. In the 65th minute, Brown approached a loose ball in the 18-yard box and fired a low rocket from 12 yards. The ball went directly at Creighton goalkeeper Keelan Terrell, who was prone on the goal line after the initial scramble, and blocked it away with her teammates clearing the rebound away from danger.
– K-State finished the afternoon with a 15-9 advantage in total shots and a 5-2 lead in shots on goal. The Wildcats also held a 7-5 edge in corner kicks.
QUICK FACTS
– K-State owns an overall record at Buser Family Park of 19-33-6 and are 1-0-1 this season.
– The Wildcats are 0-2-2 in matches against Big East Conference members.
– K-State is 0-2-2 in the series against Creighton.
– Head coach Mike Dibbini owns a career coaching record of 299-152-48. He is 34-74-17 in eight seasons as the only head coach in K-State history.
– K-State owns a record of 2-0-2 in the month of August this season. In its history, the Wildcats are 12-9-6 in August.
– The Wildcats are 1-0-2 this season when tied at the half and 13-25-14 in its eight seasons.
– This was the 38th shutout in K-State history. The Wildcats have registered 27 wins and 11 draws when holding opponents scoreless.
PLAYER NOTES
– Sheaff improves her K-State record in frame to 2-0-2. Her collegiate career record stands at 6-2-6.
– Sheaff has three consecutive shutouts and owns an active shutout streak of 350:17, which are the longest shutout streaks by a K-State goalkeeper in program history. In her collegiate career, Sheaff has eight shutouts.
– Sheaff is tied for second in school history for shutouts in a sophomore season.
– Senior Maddie Weichel played in her 55th career match on Thursday. She remains in sole possession of ninth in program history for career matches played.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Mike Dibbini
On the adjustments made in the second half…
“First half, a little sluggish. Second half adjustments, we took away their short options, played a little bit more aggressive, higher up the field to win the ball and see if we can create some options, which was successful, I mean, you could tell, we out shot them in the second half, 12 to 7, so we just couldn’t find the back of the net. Their goalkeeper made a good job of stopping and denying anything and we dodged a couple of their opportunities as well. But if we would have played for 90 minutes like we did in the second half, then we could have opened the game up but it is what it is we learn from that moving forward.”
On Murphy Sheaff’s performance…
“She did a really nice job of taking part in critical moments, key moments and her reactions were really good today. And, you know, that’s what she does for us, she keeps us confident moving forward.”
On taking advantage of the offensive opportunities…
“Just a little bit more composure? I think, you know, we get ourselves in the moment, but taking a deep breath and just kind of focusing on that composure part would allow us to put one of those away and we had those chances but it just didn’t go in our way today and their goalkeeper made some big saves.”
On playing a veteran team…
“I mean, yeah, you could tell they’re experienced, they’ve been in there, you know, they had a good year last year they’re returning those players so their seasons, I mean their record is very deceiving. They played Missouri, St. Louis, Nebraska coming into this game, so they’re ready to go. But I was impressed with the performance today, much so the second half, and we just got to continue to build off of that.”
FROM THE FIELD
MURPHY SHEAFF, SOPHOMORE GOALKEEPER
On the teams overall performance…
“Sunday games are always tough. We’re coming back from a game on Thursday. It’s always a hard shift for everyone and hot day today so that doesn’t go unnoticed but I think we put in a good shift to get some points.”
On being able to produce saves in a tie game…
“I feel like just trying to do my part in like when it’s nil or there’s no goals, just trying to keep it that way. If I can keep that the goals at zero then I can just make it easier for everyone else at the pitch and keep everyone’s heads up.”
On three straight games without giving up a goal…
“It feels good. The longer it goes on for the more pressure there is to keep it up, I guess. But um, I guess as a goalkeeper, that’s all you can really do is just keep the goals goals as low as possible. And so that feels good.”
On the pressure and staying in the moment…
“I guess I’d say that’s probably the hardest part about being a goalkeeper is just trying to keep your head in the game, especially if the ball is not necessarily with you the whole time just trying to stay switched on. You do it for each other so it never ends up being really that hard when you’ve got your girls around.”
On improvements that can be made…
“At this point I feel like we’re playing really well together. We’re looking good out there, formation is strong. I think we’ve just got a couple of little technical pieces that we can work on this week and come back stronger on Thursday.”
UP NEXT
K-State visits Vanderbilt on Thursday. Match time in Nashville is set for 7 p.m. Thursday’s match will air on SEC Network+.
