Okay-State Captures Season-Opening Win to Start Corbin Period

MANHATTAN, Kan. – With a pair of second half objectives, Kansas State secured a season-opening 2-0 win over Oral Roberts in head coach Colleen Corbin‘s debut on Thursday evening at Buser Family Park.

HOW IT HAPPENED

– Okay-State (1-0-0) broke by way of within the 61st minute, as junior ahead Rilyn Rintoul thumped a shot from eight yards together with her left foot. Oral Roberts (0-1-0) goalkeeper Eirini Manoukaraki appeared to make the save on the try however the ball popped into the air and the backspin carried the ball throughout the aim line. 

– Rintoul, who missed all however the first two matches within the 2024 season on account of an ACL damage, registered her first profession aim and her first profession game-winner.

– In the 71st minute, sophomore ahead Hannah Palmer performed a cross from the correct flank into the Oral Roberts’ 18-yard field. The ball deflected on to redshirt freshman Alix Regier who blasted her shot into the online. The aim by Regier got here in her first collegiate look and her solely shot try of the evening.

– Palmer tallied her first profession assists, as she additionally offered the helper on the game-winner by Rintoul. She is the primary Wildcat since September 1, 2024, to card two or extra assists in a match.

– Sophomore goalkeeper Maddie Sibbing registered her first profession shutout with Okay-State and the second of her profession. Sibbing tallied two saves on the evening. 

– The product of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, is the second goalkeeper in program historical past to register a shutout win of their profession debut, becoming a member of Emma Malsy who achieved the feat on August 17, 2018, towards Saint Louis in a 1-0 win.

– Okay-State recorded an 8-6 edge in whole photographs and a 4-3 benefit in nook kicks.

QUICK FACTS

– Corbin is 23-24-12 in her three profession seasons as a head coach. Thursday was her first win as a head coach since a 5-0 win over Colorado College on October 15, 2023 (669 days).

– Okay-State is 3-6-1 all-time in season-openers and are 4-6-0 in residence openers.

– Okay-State is 23-45-8 all-time in matches performed at Buser Family Park.

– The Wildcats are 15-12-6 in its historical past in matches performed within the month of August.

– The Wildcats are 10-4-3 all-time in matches towards Summit League members.

– Okay-State ended a five-match dropping streak, a 13-match winless stretch (10 losses ; 3 attracts) and a six-match residence winless streak (5 losses ; 1 draw). This was the primary win for the Wildcats, and first residence win, since a 3-0 win over South Dakota on September 1, 2024.

PLAYER NOTES

– The following Wildcats made their first profession collegiate begin: junior defender Lily Hendrickson, junior ahead McKinnan Braswell and junior defender Jordan Losey. Thursday marked Losey’s first collegiate match following three seasons at Miami (Fla.). Sophomore defender Emerson DeLuca and sophomore goalkeeper Maddie Sibbing made their Okay-State debuts within the beginning lineup. Sibbing made her eleventh profession collegiate begin in body (10 at Kansas City), whereas DeLuca carded her second profession collegiate begin (1 at LSU).

– In addition to Losey and Regier making their official collegiate debuts, redshirt freshman Gabby DeMers, freshman Ava Garrett, freshman Ava Patterson and freshman Jenna Verplancke made their collegiate debuts.

– Regier is the fourth freshman in program historical past to attain in a season-opener and first since 2023.

– With her two assists, Palmer is tied for sixth in program historical past for assists in a sophomore season.

FROM THE HEAD COACH

Okay-State Head Coach Colleen Corbin

On what successful this recreation means…

“Oh, man, it is up there. You know, we didn’t know what it was gonna look like when we came out tonight, and my hope was that we were able to walk away proud of the effort we put forward. And we can say that. I can say that certainly, and for the two people who scored, to be Rilyn Rintoul and Alix Regier, like Rilyn makes me cry. Rilyn scoring the opener is poetic, honestly. She has worked tirelessly to put herself back on the field, and sorry, has done the work necessary. And that was a scrappy goal, right? Like, that was not clean, it was not pretty. And we talk about it all the time, like, you’ve got to sell your soul to the soccer gods, and that’s what she did. And, you know, again, Alix burying it, like, making it known that she was going to score, like those are things that we’ve talked about. And so to come out at halftime feeling a little disappointed about how we started, and to completely change the energy and shift the mentality and put them under pressure and get after them, I’m incredibly proud. I love this team and I’m really happy to be a Wildcat.”

On what the day was like after 8 months of ready for the season…

“Really busy, actually. The day was really chaotic. We just had a lot of moving pieces, a lot of things going on. And we have some really special recruits on campus right now, too, which is probably a good thing. I wouldn’t say distracted, but I didn’t have time to just sit and think, you know, so that was good, but we had a really good jogging stretch with the team in the morning. Spent a lot of time with my staff today, which was nice. My parents are here, so that’s really special to me, my husband’s here. I wasn’t anxious, I wasn’t nervous, I was just excited. I was excited to get out on this field and experience this crowd and this energy and be able to show the fans again, what our brand is now. So it was a really fun day.”

On what she realized about her group after at the moment’s recreation…

“We are resilient. We can do hard things; we have to choose to do it, that’s always a choice, but we can do it. And I hope they feel that, and I hope that they see when we lean in and commit to the things we want to do, and we don’t just let the game come to us, we’re going to be really effective. So again, we’re resilient and we’re going to continue to build that mentality, that grittiness. I’m very proud.”

FROM THE PITCH

Okay-State Junior Forward Rilyn Rintoul

On getting that first aim after not taking part in most of final season…

“I think it was just thinking about knowing I’m in front of the net and getting anything on the ball I could in the direction of the net, and hoping that got enough on it for it to go in.”

On what restoration has been like over the previous two years…

“It is a long recovery. It happened at the end of August [2024], so I’m about a year out, so it’s my first game back at Buser [Family Park]. So it’s really special to come out and score and have a win on our home opener. So I think it’s just a long recovery and a good reward at the end.”

On being a giant a part of Coach Corbin’s first victory at Okay-State…

“It’s awesome. I think the culture has changed a lot, and being a key player and helping the team out in any way I can is really special to me, and I’m happy to help the program in any way I can.”

Okay-State Redshirt Freshman Midfielder Alix Regier

On her first profession aim…

“Yes, it was so exciting, and it was just so cool for my whole team to jump and surround me, and the celebration was so much fun.”

On what attending to play this yr means…

“It’s just so much fun. And with the new coach, we’re just having so much fun every day, and the culture is amazing here. I was just so excited to help the team and get on the field and score a goal for us.”

UP NEXT

Okay-State returns to motion on Sunday, August 17, because the Wildcats host Portland State. Match time is about for 11 a.m., and could be watched on ESPN+.