Tag: KCKCC women’s soccer

Oelschlager player of the year; Uhlenhake coach of the year

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Led by freshman forward Katharina Oelschlager and coach Shawn Uhlenhake, Kansas City Kansas Community College dominated the 2021 East All-Jayhawk Conference soccer team.

Oelschlager was named player of the year and Uhlenhake coach of the year as the Blue Devils placed eight players on the two teams – five on the first team and three on the second.

Joining Oelschlager on the first team are forward Corrine Hughes of Grain Valley, midfielders Melissa Siegel of Germany and Kayley Pedersen of Shawnee Mission West and defender Katrina Sargent of Shawnee Mission South while forward Madison Broeker of Lincoln, Nebraska; and defenders Paige Liston of Wichita and Grace Runyan of Blue Valley were named to the second team. All are sophomores with the exception of Runyan and Oelschlager, a native of Germany.

The Blue Devils won the Jayhawk East for the first time in history with an 11-1-1 record and earned KCKCC’s first NJCAA Division I national tournament berth. They finished 12-4-1 overall.

In his fifth season, Uhlenhake’s 2019 team finished 13-4, the most wins in history; scored a record 64 goals and allowed only 27 goals in 17 games.

Oelschlager scored 11 goals and had nine assists in just 13 games, converting 11 of 19 shots on goal for a .514 percentage. Siegel, who led the nation in assists (21) in the 2019 season, also led in assists this season with 13 and scored nine goals.

Hughes led in goals for the second season, scoring 12 this season after a team record 13 in 2019. Broeker was fourth in scoring with nine goals and four assists while Petersen had six assists and two goals.

Sargent, Petersen, Liston and Runyan were key members of a Blue Devil defense that posted seven shutouts and allowed just nine goals in 13 Jayhawk games.

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

For the first time in the nine-year history of women’s soccer at Kansas City Kansas Community College, the Blue Devils are in the NJCAA Division I national tournament.

Boasting their best record ever (12-2-1), the Blue Devils earned an at-large bid in the national tourney to be played at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Georgia, a suburb of Augusta. The 12-team tourney will begin Thursday and run through Tuesday, June 8.

A three-team, four pod format, KCKCC is grouped with Eastern Florida State, the No. 3 seeded team in the tournament, and Laramie, Wyoming.

KCKCC will open against Eastern Florida State (8-0-2) Thursday at 5 p.m. and then take on Laramie (13-1) Friday, also at 5 p.m.

All three teams were ranked in the Top 10 in the final NJCAA Division I rankings – Eastern Florida No. 3, Laramie No. 6 and KCKCC No. 10. Pod play will be held through Saturday with the four winners advancing to the semifinals on Monday.

“The pressure is off; we’re playing with house money,” KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake said. “I think we put so much pressure on ourselves to try to go undefeated and win the regional that we were afraid of losing, But the last three days of practice, the girls really looked good, excited. We have not been this healthy since early in the season. If we play freely with nothing to lose, this is going to be a dangerous team.”

The Blue Devils will leave Saturday with hopes of adjusting to the Georgia weather.

“It’s in the 60s here, I assume it’s going to be a lot hotter in Georgia,” Uhlenhake said.

No. 4 ranked Snow College out of Utah and No. 11 Indian Hills of Ottumwa, Iowa, were the other at-large selections.

“There were some pretty intense conversations with the committee,” said KCKCC Athletic Director Tony Tompkins, who made the KCKCC presentation on behalf of assistant coach Jefferson Roblee and Uhlenhake.

“I think the deciding factor was our overall body of work during the season,” Tompkins said. “Emphasis was not only on the national ranking, strength of schedule and wins over top teams all year long but also how hard the team played, how they conducted themselves and how well they would represent the region, the college and the community.”

In addition to being the Jayhawk Conference’s top ranked team, the Blue Devils won the outright conference championship (12-1-1), a conference that boasted five teams in the national rankings at one time or another.

The Jayhawk leader in goals scored (61) and fewest goals given up (10), the Blue Devils’ only losses were at Coffeyville, 2-1 in the regular season finale, and 2-1 to Barton County in the Region VI semifinals, a game in which the Cougars scored the winning goal with 2:09 remaining.

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s unbeaten women’s soccer team stretched its winning streak to six in a row Saturday, the longest winning streak in its history.

Unleashing their biggest scoring assault of the year, the Blue Devils cruised to a 7-0 victory over Garden City. The win kept KCKCC firmly atop the Jayhawk East standings ahead of Barton County (4-0-1) and Cowley (3-1-1). All other teams have at least two losses.

The win also sets up what could be the game of the year next Saturday.

After playing host to Coffeyville (3-2) Wednesday at 5 p.m., the Blue Devils play at Barton Saturday at 2 p.m. with first place on the line.

“Barton is the least of our worries right now; we have a big game Wednesday against a very dangerous Coffeyville team,” KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake said.

The 7-0 blanking of Garden City was played almost entirely in the Broncbusters’ end of the field as the Blue Devils repeatedly attacked the goal and scored in bunches. Twice, back-to-back goals were scored in well under a minute.

Sophomores Madi Broeker and Corrine Hughes each scored two goals, three of which came on assists from Melissa Siegel while Susie Lopez and Mia Tomasic combined for the Blue Devils’ fourth shutout of the season. In six games, KCKCC has outscored its opponents 26-2.

Broeker put KCKCC ahead 1-0 early on an assist from Paige Liston and then made it 2-0 on an assist from Siegel at the 21:35 mark of the first half. A half minute later, Hughes scored on a pass from Siegel for a 3-0 halftime lead.

In the second half, Siegel scored on a pass from Katrina Sargent at the 36:13 mark and 21 seconds later, assisted on Hughes’ second goal at 35:52. The final goals were scored on assists from Kennia Acuna Soto, the first to Jaidyn Yingling; the second to Mackenzie Denham.