FC KANSAS CITY OPENS THE 2024 PRESEASON WITH AN 8-1 VICTORY OVER THE NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS

Shea Groom scored her first goal as an FC Kansas City player

LINCOLN, Ne. (March 15, 2024) – FC Kansas City visited the Hawks Championship Center on Sunday for their first preseason game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, which resulted in an 8-1 victory for the current National Women’s Soccer League champions.

“I am just glad to see the girls back on the field together,” said Huw Williams, Director of Soccer Operations and Assistant Coach. “They have been training hard; two times a day for a week and I am sure they enjoyed playing a real match against a real opposition.”

The Blues came out to the indoor football facilities with an offensive mindset and got on the board early in the match when Erika Tymrak found the ball on her feet after a scramble just outside the box before chipping it past goalkeeper Kelly Schatz in the 13^th minute.

Five minutes later, first round pick Shea Groom tallied her first goal with FC Kansas City after finding herself on the right end of a cross from Liz Bogus, which she calmly placed in the back of the net to make it 2-0 in the 18^th minute.

“Scoring goals never gets old,” Groom said. “It was a great ball from Liz [Bogus], she got down the line and crossed the ball really hard and I was able to get on the end of it, it was really exciting.”

In the 23^rd minute, Sarah Hagen would extend the lead after receiving a ball from Tymrak just outside the box and hit a one-time shot that crossed the goal line on the far left post to make it 3-0 in favor of the Blues.

Moments later, recently acquired defender Becca Moros picked up a loose ball outside the eighteen after a missed clearance from a Nebraska defender during a corner kick and hit a well-struck ball to the far side upper ninety in the 31^st minute.

Only four minutes later, Hagen notched her second goal of the afternoon when Amy LePeilbet played a long ball to the right side of the field that allowed her a one-on-one opportunity that she capitalized with a right-footed line drive to make it 5-0 in the 35^th minute.

The Cornhuskers got their only tally of the game when the referee awarded them with a penalty kick after a great defensive recovery by Meghan Lisenby, which ended with enough contact to warrant the foul. Nebraska’s Jaycie Johnson scored from the spot.

One minute before the end of the first half, Tymrak added another goal to her name off a deflected shot from Bogus to simply place the ball past goalkeeper Erika Johnson to take a 6-1 lead to the locker rooms.

The Blues would add another goal to the score in the 71^st minute when 2024 draftee Jessica Ayers found Kim DeCesare who took one touch to her right and finished to the goalkeeper’s left.

Late in the match, Nebraska’s goalkeeper threw the ball to her outside defender, who as she pressured tried to play the ball back, which resulted in an unfortunate own goal to end the game with a final score of 8-1.

“I was pleasantly surprised, the result was what we wanted even though we are in the first week of preseason, everybody started to click and play well together.” Leigh Ann Robinson added.

FC KANSAS CITY’S LINEUP

Barnhart; Lisenby (Richardson), Moros, Tymrak (Clark), Buczkowski, Robinson, Groom (Silva), Hagen, Bogus (Kastor), Averbuch (DeCesare), LePeilbet.

SCORING SUMMARY

 CAUTIONS AND EJECTIONS

Next up, FC Kansas City will continue its preseason when they visit the Kansas Jayhawks on March 31^st at Rock Chalk Park.