Men's Soccer Defeats Nationally Ranked Utah Valley in its Third Straight Win

Saturday, October 19

Durwood Stadium

7:00 PM

Kansas City

4-7-0, 3-3-0

Utah Valley

8-4-1, 5-1-0

Utah Valley

Kansas City

Men's Soccer Defeats Nationally Ranked Utah Valley in its Third Straight Win

10/19/2019 9:31:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Men's Soccer (4-7-0, 3-3-0) defeated nationally ranked and top seed in the Western Athletic Conference, Utah Valley (8-4-1, 5-1), by a score of 2-1 tonight at Durwood Stadium. The Roos have defeated two nationally ranked teams back-to-back now, having defeated #25 UTRGV last week. The team is now on a 3-0 win streak in the conference.

"We are just starting," head coach Rick Benben said. "Beating two top 30-teams back to back is a real testament to our team. If we can beat those teams, we can beat anyone."

It was a thriller once again at Durwood Stadium, but the offensive firepower of the Roos of late was too much for Utah Valley. Kansas City has now scored two goals in each of their last three games. The Wolverines were coming into this game allowing just one goal in its five conference games so far.

Freshman Aiden Cavanaugh started the party for the Roos in the first half, as he fired a shot from way outside the box that found the back of the net to in the 41st minute. That goal marked his second of the season. It was a freshman to freshman connection, as Mikhail McComie picked up his first assist of the season. Kansas City went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

The second half was an offensive entourage, as the teams combined for 13 shots and two goals. The first goal of the second half may have been the play of the year. Junior transfer Ryan Khedoo showed off why he was named last week's WAC Offensive Player of the Week. He brilliantly shimmied past a Wolverine defender in the box, leaving him one-on-one with the keeper. Khedoo buried the shot, his team leading third goal of the season, to give Kansas City a cushion at 2-0 in the 67th minute.

The defense was a huge key to the win tonight, allowing just four shots on goal of the Wolverines 18 total shots. They did not allow a goal until the 74th minute, when conference goal leader Blake Frischknecht headed one off the deflection of a Utah Valley player into the top of the goal. Kansas City was trying to run the clock out on the Wolverines. With just ten seconds remaining, the Wolverines fired one last shot that went just high.

It was once again a very physical game, as the teams combined for 29 total fouls and five yellow cards issued. However, the work of Filippo Errico in the net once again kept the Roos in the lead. Errico came away with two huge saves and a big clearance to keep Kansas City in the lead and tallied three saves overall.

"One of our strengths is being a team together," GK Filiippo Errico said. " We have been improving our defensive shape and in the last three games our team is working hard to keep the net clean."

Up Next
Kansas City will look to ride the hot streak as they head to Las Vegas, Nv. for a conference matchup with UNLV. Kickoff is set for Friday at 7 p.m. CT.

Quick Hitters

Ryan Khedoo has now scored in three straight games after earning the game winning goal tonight vs. UVU. He outright leads the team in goals scored with three.
The offense for the Roos has been clicking of late. Kansas City has now scored 2+ goals in three straight games for the first time since 2014 (Oct. 17th - 24th).
Eight Kansas City players battled the entire 90 minutes tonight, as the team used only one substitute all game to defeat the Wolverines.
The Roos remain undefeated at home in conference play at 3-0.
Kansas City (4-7-0) has scored two goals in each of its four total games won on the season and remains 4-0 when scoring 2 or more goals.