Kansas goalkeeper Melania Pasar made a career-high nine saves — including one to block a penalty kick from Wisconsin’s Adee Boer in the dying seconds of the first half — and the Jayhawks and Badgers played to a season-opening scoreless draw at the McClimon Soccer Complex in Madison, Wisconsin, on Thursday night.
Pasar’s dive to her left to wrap up Boer’s low, softly hit shot came after a handball on a Wisconsin corner kick, one of 10 corners the Badgers earned on the night. They were unable to score for 90 minutes despite 22 shots in total, as KU’s super-senior goalie held firm.
Midfielders Erin Connolly and Maia Richters, along with Boer, managed three shots apiece for the Badgers, though no single player for Wisconsin managed to put more than one on target. KU forward Lexi Watts, back after a standout freshman campaign, was the only one in the game with multiple shots on goal, as she forced a save from Wisconsin’s Erin McKinney once at the end of each half. McKinney finished with five saves on the night.
Pasar, a native of Portoroz, Slovenia, returned the most experience of any of the Jayhawks’ four goalkeepers after starting 15 matches last season, but neither she nor redshirt sophomore Hayven Harrison had recorded a single save after playing one half each of a 2-1 exhibition loss to South Dakota State on Aug. 11.
Four players went at least 85 of a possible 90 minutes for KU, including veterans Moira Kelley and Avery Smith, sophomore Maree Shinkle and freshman Caroline Castans, making her debut after joining the Jayhawks from Marcus High in Flower Mound, Texas.
In fact, all of KU’s true freshmen — Castans, Montelene Dymond, Olivia Page, Siera Herbert and Jocelyn Herrema — debuted Thursday. Transfers Camryn Bliss (Ole Miss) and Hallie Klanke (North Carolina) also debuted, after Klanke had missed all of 2022 with a season-ending injury.
KU’s Raena Childers got a yellow card late in the first half, the only time a player was cautioned during the match.
KU went 3-1 against a quartet of Big Ten Conference foes in the nonleague portion of its schedule last year; this season, Wisconsin, which placed No. 47 in last year’s season-ending NCAA RPI rankings, is its only Big Ten foe.
The event was the first regular-season sporting event of the year for any KU team. KU soccer will be back in action Sunday at Loyola-Chicago; its home opener is Thursday night against Vanderbilt at Rock Chalk Park.
Chance Parker/Journal-World photo
