No. 24 Women's Soccer's Season Comes to Close Against No. 11 Kansas in NCAA Round of 32

Friday, November 22

Columbia, S.C.

3 PM

Xavier University

17-4-2, 7-2-0

Kansas

17-4-3, 4-2-3

Xavier

Kansas

No. 24 Women's Soccer's Season Comes to Close Against No. 11 Kansas in NCAA Round of 32

11.22.19 | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

Musketeers set new program records in wins, shutouts on the way to the program's first BIG EAST Championships, NCAA Tournament win

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A record-breaking season for No. 24 Xavier women's soccer came to a close on Friday afternoon, as the Musketeers (17-4-2, 7-2 BIG EAST) fell to the No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA Tournament Second Round at South Carolina's Stone Stadium.

KU struck early, with leading scorer Katie McClure scoring on her own for the 1-0 lead in the first five minutes. McClure scored again in the 19th minute to give Kansas a 2-0 lead going into halftime, and then added a third shortly after the break for the 3-0 lead which held through regulation.

The Musketeers' 2019 season will go into the record books as arguably the best season in program history, collecting a program-best 17 wins with 13 shutouts, also a program best. On the way to the NCAA Tournament match against Kansas, Xavier collected a number of program firsts, including a BIG EAST Regular Season title, BIG EAST Tournament title, United Soccer Coaches National Top 25 ranking and NCAA Tournament win.

Friday's match marked the last appearance as Musketeers for Xavier's seven-person senior class, Grace Bahr, Toni Bizzarro, Samantha Dewey, Raechel Eck, Makayla Kolberg, Courtney Lankford and Jessica Miller. As a class, Xavier's seniors have helped the program to Xavier's first BIG EAST Championship appearance (2017) as well as the first time hosting and advancing in the BIG EAST Championship (2018), the program's first winning record since 2013 and first 10-win season since 2003 (2018) and the program's first result against a top-five program, a 0-0 double overtime draw against Georgetown on Oct. 25, 2018.

SCORING RECAP

5' | KANSAS | The Jayhawk's leading scorer Katie McClure got the ball in KU's attacking third, taking the ball to the goal herself to put Kansas ahead 1-0 early.

19' | KANSAS | KU's Mandi Duggan played the ball ahead to Katie McClure who drive deep into the box, shooting from the right side to give the Jayhawks a 2-0 lead.

48' | KANSAS | A shot from KU's McClure from the right side was punched out by Toni Bizzarro in-goal, but went back to McClure who tapped it in for the 3-0 lead.

MATCH NOTES

Molly McLaughlin had a team-high four shots, while Samantha Dewey added three, all on-frame as Xavier was narrowly out shot, 15-14, by the Jayhawks. KU held a 10-8 advantage on shots on-frame.
Emily Burton and Gabrielle LoPresti each had two looks on frame.
KU's goal in the fifth minute ended a shut-out streak of nearly 390 minutes for the Xavier defense, going back to the match against DePaul on Oct. 27.
Toni Bizzarro collected seven saves in-frame. Grace Bahr and Hayley Jakovich each played the full 90 in Xavier's backfield. Samantha Dewey also played the full 90 minutes for the Musketeers.
The loss to the Jayhawks was only the Musketeers' fourth setback of the season, the fewest for the program since 1991's three-loss season.

SEASON NOTABLES

The Musketeers' win over Virginia Tech in the first round of the tournament was the first NCAA Tournament win in program history. The loss for the Hokies was the only first round setback for the ACC, which went 8-1 in the opening round of the tournament.
Xavier won the program's first regular season conference championship in the BIG EAST regular season, the first conference title overall since winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament in 2000.
The Musketeers also claimed the first BIG EAST Women's Soccer Tournament Championship, making it a clean sweep of the BIG EAST titles for 2019.
The Musketeers picked up a 17th win overall against Virginia Tech, adding to an already program record total for the season.
Xavier's 13 shutouts are the most in program history, topping the previous record of 11 set in 2000. The Musketeers' 17 goals allowed on the season match the 1997 team for fourth fewest in a season in program records.
The team's 43 goals scored are the second most in program history.
In the most recent United Soccer Coaches poll, Xavier was ranked No. 24, marking the first time in program history the team appeared in the National poll.
The Musketeers finish with a winning percentage of .783, behind only the 1990 (11-2-2 - .800) and 1991 (14-3-2 - .790) seasons for final winning percentage in program records.
Xavier was ranked No. 42 in the most recent RPI. The Musketeers should finish the season with the highest final RPI since the metric was introduced, topping the 2000 squad's final RPI of 48.
The Musketeers' eight-match win streak going into the Kansas game was the longest since winning six-straight in 2003 and one shy of the program-best nine-match win-streak, set three times, last time being during the 2000 season.
Senior Samantha Dewey finished her career with 103 points on 40 goals and 23 assists. Her four-goal match against Murray State in the season opener was the second most goals in a single game in the Xavier record books, and her 13-goal senior season will go as the fourth most in a single season in program history.
Toni Bizzarro closed out her career with a record of 29-22-7, a Xavier record for career wins, with 18 shutouts. Her nine wins in 2019 match her own school record from 2018.
Her goals against average of 1.10 through four years, goes down as a program record for a career. Her senior season GAA of 0.65 stands as second best for a single season in Xavier's record books.
Grace Bahr's nine assists are fourth most in a single season in Xavier's record books.