The Summit League conference has been rough on the Kansas City Roos women’s soccer team recently. Kansas City looks to have a bounce-back year in 2024, as its last finish in the top half came in 2019.
The Roos squad will open the 2024 season with an exhibition match against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Aug. 5. Then, Kansas City opens the regular season with a pair of road games against the Saint Louis Billikens on Aug. 15, followed by a date with the Marquette Golden Eagles on Aug. 18.
As head coach Jess Smith enters her fifth season with Kansas City, she believes this will be her best season yet with the program. “I have very high expectations of our team,” Smith said. “They have worked very hard to get to the position where they’re at and I think the standard for us is to continue to elevate.”
Some believe college soccer games are won in the months before the fall as teams battle for the top recruits and transfers. Kansas City heavily focused on this in the offseason. The Roos will have a fresh look to their team. The team lost seven players to graduation, but Smith feels good about the new faces she has recruited to the team.
“I think the freshmen are going to add not only from an athletic standpoint but also be good members of the culture,” Smith said. “With the transfers that are coming in we have players that already have experience, so they are going to add to the leadership we already have. I think the key for us is getting everybody acclimated in our culture and focusing on connections on and off the field.”
Last year, Kansas City was able to turn previous losses into draws, finishing with eight. Coach Smith believes that the expectation of the entire staff and team is for some of those draws to turn into wins this season.
“We have a lot to improve on both sides of the ball,” Smith said. “I expect us to be able to create more chances and execute so we can score more goals. And on the flip side, be able to defend better from top to bottom as an entire group and limit the chances the opponent has.”
Key returners include junior midfielder Brianna Castleberry, senior forward Lily Stedman, and senior goalkeeper Riley Moore.
Castleberry led the team in points last season with six goals and three assists.
Stedman, who started in all 18 games last season, contributed with one goal and three assists.
Moore, who also started in all 18 games, finished the season with 87 saves averaging 4.8 saves per game, which was second most in the Summit League and 74th in the NCAA.
The 12 games Kansas City played that resulted in either a tie or loss were decided by a goal or less. The hope is, with tighter control of those matchups, Kansas City could have had a few more wins, giving them a higher seed in the Summit League Tournament.
Fans should be on the lookout for a team much closer to the top half of the standings than their 2023 position suggests.
