Kansas City
11-3-4, 3-2-2
California Baptist
13-4-1, 6-2-0
Women's Soccer Sneaks Past CBU on Prokop's Golden Goal
10/27/2019 4:24:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Both teams wanted points in Sunday's women's soccer match between Kansas City and California Baptist, but for very different reasons. The Roos entered the match one point behind Grand Canyon for the sixth spot in the Western Athletic Conference standings, where only the top six squads move on to the conference tournament. The Lancers, on the other hand, sat ahead of Seattle U by two points in the WAC's top spot, and could clinch a spot atop the final regular season standings with a win or a tie.
It was a battle from start to finish, but in the end the Roos emerged off the golden foot of Lindsey Prokop in the 99th minute, 1-0. With the win, the Roos moved up into fourth place in the conference and clinched a spot in the WAC Tournament for the seventh straight year. The win is also the 100th career-program victory for Head Coach Chris Cissell, who has been a part of all but two wins in program history.
"I'm extremely proud of the team," Head Coach Chris Cissell said. "We played against a great team in California Baptist that came into the match knowing that all they had to do was beat us or tie us and they were regular season champs."
Regulation was played to a 0-0 tie, but the Lancers had the edge in shots taken, 16-11. CBU had their best opportunity of the match in the 86th minute, as Karley Weeks went streaking with the ball down the right side of the field, drawing Erin Roth out of goal. Weeks put the ball past Roth and towards the back of the net, but a flying Maddi Cipolla came out of nowhere to make a fabulous save and keep the Roos' hopes alive going into extra time.
"When (Weeks) got around Abby (Small), I thought, 'Oh man, we just lost,'" Cissell said. "Then I saw Maddi out of the corner of my eye making this unbelievable run and diving. When we got to overtime, I told the team, 'Hey, we're still playing this game because of the effort of Maddi Cipolla."
In overtime, the Roos were the aggressors. They controlled possession of the ball and had the only shots in the period. The first three went by unsuccessful, but in the 99th minute, Kansas City had possession in its attacking third. Rylan Childers threaded a pass between two Lancer defenders to Prokop on the right side, and Prokop did the work from there. She put a move on, sent a shot off of the leg of a CBU defender and into the back of the goal. The goal was the freshman's fifth of the year, and her third game winning score.
"I was just thinking, 'I've got to get this shot on goal,'" Prokop said. "Coach told us, 'Every shot has to be on frame, and one of them will go.' Lucky enough, that one went."
The victory is the Roos' third in a row, after starting WAC play 0-2-2. They move ahead of Grand Canyon, UTRGV and CSU Bakersfield for the fourth spot in the conference with just one game left to play.Â
"That's three wins in a row for us and three shutouts in a row," Cissell said. "We feel like we're peaking at the right time and getting ready to go into the conference tournament."
Kansas City closes out the regular season with a match at Chicago State on November 2. With a win, the Roos will be slotted the third seed in the conference, as California Baptist is not eligible for the WAC tournament in Seattle, Wash. starting November 5.Â
Team Stats
Lindsey Prokop (1)
Assisted By: Rylan Childers
Shot from #10 tipped by defender into the net, goal
98:26
