Musketeers advance to second round, will face No. 11 Kansas on Friday

By Will Pembroke | Staff Writer

The 2019 dream season for Xavier women’s soccer lives to fight another game as it pulled off an upset in the opening round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The No. 24 ranked Musketeers team came in clutch with a 1-0 victory in a hard-fought game against Virginia Tech.

Xavier took the lead early in the game off of a second minute goal from sophomore midfielder Molly McLaughlin. Virginia Tech’s defense cleared a cross attempt from sophomore forward Brooke Sroka and the ball ended up at the feet of McLaughlin just inside of the 18-yard box.

With sophomore goalkeeper Olivia Jenkins in goal, the Musketeers posted a zero in the score column of the Hokies out entirely despite 10 corner kicks. Jenkins picked up her 13th shutout of the season in the win over Virginia Tech.

The game was a defensive struggle throughout. The Hokies outshot Xavier 12-5, however, Xavier’s defense limited Virginia Tech to just five looks on goal.

Senior midfielder Grace Bahr and sophomores Hayley Jakovich and Grace Brauer logged the full 90 minutes of the match. Likewise, McLaughlin, who netted the only goal of the match, also played for the full duration of the match.

The 13th shutout registered by the Musketeers now ranks the 2019 squad for the most in program history —adding onto the numerous records shattered by the team. 

Additionally, McLaughlin’s goal moved the team to second all-time with 43 total goals as a team.

The Musketeers will face the No. 11 ranked Kansas Jayhawks, who claimed the Big 12 title, in the second round of the tournament in a match that will feature two conference champions.

Much like Xavier, Kansas is coming off a hard-fought win over Iowa in the first round, so the match should prove to be interesting.

The matchup will take place on Friday at 3 p.m. in Columbia, S.C., and it will be aired on the SEC network.

The 17-3-2 Musketeers will enter the match in the midst of an eight-game win streak and just one victory shy of matching Xavier’s all-time record of nine straight wins which was previously set in 2000.