MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State used a heavy dose of offensive chances to build a second half lead on Sunday afternoon at Buser Family Park, but Northern Colorado edged in a goal to square the match for a final result of 1-1.

QUICK FACTS
– K-State is 0-1-1 all-time against teams from the Big Sky Conference.
– Sunday was the first meeting between K-State and Northern Colorado.
– Senior goalkeeper Rachel Harris made her first start in goal since October 31, 2019, at Texas Tech, a total time of 1,025 days. Harris was unable to play in the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to injury.
– Harris finished the afternoon with two saves.
– The Wildcats ended the afternoon with a 27-9 advantage in total shots and a 12-3 lead in shots on goal.
– Sophomore Adah Anderson tallied the second goal of her career and her first this season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
– K-State (0-1-1) piled up a 14-2 shot advantage in the first half, including a 5-0 edge in shots on goal. The Wildcats appeared to tally the opening goal of the game in the 34th minute off the foot of Riley Baker, but were called offsides on the play.
– In the 52nd minute, K-State freshman Sophie Harlan attacked from the right side of the field. Harlan curled the ball to the top of the Northern Colorado six-yard box and found Anderson charging across the topography to get her foot on the orb.
– Anderson gathered and scored into the left corner.
– Northern Colorado (1-0-1) broke through the K-State defense in the 81st minute to square the match on one of its three shots on goal. Britney Donais lofted an attempt just over the reach of Harris into the right back corner of the net.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Mike Dibbini
“​​The game of soccer, it’s definitely cruel sometimes. I felt like we had some good effort today and just had a non focused moment where they punished us for it. So, lesson learned moving forward that you know when you have so many chances on the attack you’ve gotta execute your chances and find some separation against a team like this. They’re good side, they’ve done a good job and but we got to find some more separation.

On finding more scoring…
“It’s got to be better in front of the goal. Focus, discipline and composure to get those three together. And you know, the execution part will come so we just got to go back and continue to grind forward and we’ll be fine.”

FROM THE FIELD
K-State Senior Goalkeeper Rachel Harris
On how it felt to return to play…
“Yeah, I mean, there was there was a lot of emotions and this was the first game that I played in that’s counted since Halloween 2019. I was just trying to take it all in. And I mean, I wouldn’t be back here if it wasn’t for support staff and everybody at Kansas State.  I walked out here before the game and I was like, it’s happening and it was all worth it.”

On the different emotions she had..
“For the first time I was proud of myself. Iit’s been a very hard two years and I didn’t know if I was ever going to play again. I didn’t know if I was going to be back out here and that’s all I wanted. And I mean, just resilience is something that I that I love in people people and I just, I look at other stories. What I had was nowhere near like what McKenzie Milton went through at Florida State but he was out for two years with a gruesome leg injury and he worked his way back. All I wanted was just a chance and I had to work for it. Nothing’s given, everything is earned.”

K-State Sophomore Midfielder Adah Anderson
On her goal…
“Sophie (Harlan) made a great run. And I was like, ‘Okay, this has gone on too long, 0-0.’ We’ve gotta get up. I just sprinted in and Sophie actually told me after that, she was like, ‘I knew you were gonna go there,  didn’t actually see you but I had full trust in you.’ So I just went in and that girl set me up with a great touch and then I was just able to put it in for our team. Great feeling for sure.”

On if she plans on being a consistent goal scorer for this team…
“I hope so. Whatever I can to help us win, I’ll be here for it. If I can help us score goals then that’s what I’ll do.”

UP NEXT
K-State begins a three-match road trip next week, as the Wildcats visit the state of Texas to face UTRGV on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., and UTSA on Sunday at 12 p.m. Thursday’s make will stream on ESPN+, while Sunday’s will be available on CUSA.tv.