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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Washburn University football coach Craig Schurig gave his Ichabods high marks overall for its performance last week at Central Missouri, but WU fell just short in a 31-28 loss and will try to bounce back in Saturday's 1 p.m. Homecoming game against Nebraska-Kearney.
Topekan Tre Richardson had 11 catches, two TDs and 264 all-purpose yards in last Saturday's 31-28 loss at Central Missouri. [File photo/TSN]
"It was really a well-played game,'' Schurig said. "Central Missouri played well, we played well and we did all the things that you need to do to win a game and a number of guys stepped up their play.
"We had numerous opportunities to take the lead (late) and did not but I was proud of the way our kids responded, particularly our defense in that fourth quarter. We kept giving ourselves a chance.''
Washburn is 2-6 overall, 2-5 in the MIAA, while Nebraska-Kearney (4-4, 2-4) lost to No. 14-ranked Emporia State 42-35 as the Hornets scored the go-ahead touchdown with 4:45 left in the fourth quarter.
Nebraska-Kearney took a 27-21 decision over the Ichabods in last year's meeting in Kearney.
The Washburn Ichabod football team had three turnovers in its final three drives of the game as the Ichabods came up on the short end of a back-and-forth contest.
Highland Park product Tre Richardson finished with 229 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 11 catches with 172 yards after the catch as he averaged 20.8 yards per catch, not counting an 87-receiving yard TD pass that was called back with an Ichabod penalty.
Richardson's 229 receiving yards is third on the Ichabod single-game chart trailing only Sam Sissom's 231 yards against Colorado Mines in 2005 and Troy Slusser's 252 yards against Emporia State in 1988.
Richardson's 264 all-purpose yards against Central Missouri was the most by an Ichabod since James Brania-Hopp had 258 against Emporia State on Oct. 27, 2018.
Richardson is eighth in the nation and first the MIAA in all-purpose yards, averaging 152.4 yards per game, and the Highland Park product is also 14th in receiving yards with 737 and 13th in receiving yards per game with 92.1.
"The more we got the quarterback situation figured out (after an early-season injury to starter Sam Van Dyne) the more I got used to it, the more they tried to get me the ball,'' Richardson said. "I'm starting to get used to it and the numbers are starting to go up.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball will finish out its week with the second half of the Sunflower Showdown Friday night, heading to Lawrence to face Kansas in a 6:30 p.m. exhibition.
Lora Westling's Washburn women's basketball team will play an exhibition at Kansas on Friday night. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn is coming off a 13-16 season in 2023-24, finishing 10th in the MIAA with an 8-14 record in the conference and advancing to the first round of the MIAA Tournament.
The Ichabods were picked to finish ninth in the MIAA Preseason Media Poll and were tabbed 10th by the coaches.
Kansas was picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll. The Jayhawks are coming off a 20-13 (11-7 Big 12) season where they advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament and the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Washburn played its first exhibition game of the season on Wednesday at No. 13-ranked Kansas State, falling 89-36.
Friday's matchup against Kansas is the first since an 87-43 exhibition loss on Nov. 4, 2018.
Yibari Nwidadah leads a group of eight Washburn returners after earning All-MIAA honorable mention honors as a sophomore. The Olathe native was second on the team with a 12.4 scoring average while shooting a team-high 54.8 perceent from the field. She also was tops on the team with a 9.1 rebounding average.
Aniah Wayne averaged 7.6 points and made a team-high 45 3-pointers last season as a sophomore in her first season at WU.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University women's soccer team returns to Yager Stadium this weekend for its final two home games of the regular season, facing off against Northwest Missouri State and Missouri Western in two critical MIAA contests.
The Ichabods sit in a tie for second place in the MIAA standings, six points behind Missouri Western with three games to play.
Washburn soccer will honor its seniors on Sunday before the Ichabods' 1 p.m. game against Missouri Western at Yager Stadium. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn will face Northwest Missouri at 6 p.m. Friday and the Ichabods will honor 11 seniors on Senior Day before its 1 p.m. Sunday match against the Griffons.
Washburn is 10-3-2 on the 2024 season and is ranked 20th in the latest United Soccer Coaches Division II Women's National poll.
The Ichabods split their two road contests last weekend, defeating Central Missouri 1-0 last Friday before falling to Fort Hays State, 2-1, on Sunday.
Sophomore WU goalkeeper Hailey Beck is tied for second nationally with 10 shutouts, is fourth with a goals against average of 0.313 and her 0.879 save percentage is good for a tie for 14th.
Junior Belle Kennedy is tied for 29th with three game-winning goals.
Ichabod senior Khloe Schuckman has now scored in her last three games and five of Schuckman's six goals this season came in the month of October.
With her goal against Fort Hays State, Schuckman now has 75 points in her career (31 goals, 13 assists).
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By NICHOLAS GAINEY
Special to TopSports.news
The Topeka West Chargers' boys soccer season came to a close Thursday night in a 2-0 defeat to the Hays Indians in Class 5A regional championship at Hummer Sports Park.
The matchup was the second of the season between the two teams, with Hays coming out on top 2-0 on Sep. 10.
The 11th-seeded Indians earned a 2-1 win over Bishop Carroll on Monday night, while the third-seeded Chargers downed Goddard 7-0 to set up the rematch.
The teams were unable to be separated for the first 10 minutes of the contest. The Chargers survived an early scare in the fifth minute after Hays earned a corner kick, but a wide-open header from sophomore defender Brecken Otte sailed just over the crossbar.
The match would not remain scoreless for long, as the Indians took the lead in the 10th minute. Following a foul, Ivan Maldonado launched a free kick into the box, where senior Cooper Johnson was waiting to put a right-footed shot into the Charger net.
The situation would go from bad to worse for Topeka West, which gave up possession shortly after the kickoff and were forced to defend an attack from Hays. Just 19 seconds after assisting on his team’s first goal, Maldonado scored the Indians’ second goal to put the visitors in control.
Hays looked to stay aggressive, once again repelling the Charger attack and taking the ball into the hosts’ half of the pitch. The Indians nearly had a third goal in three minutes, but a shot by Henry Speno off a volley hit the crossbar before being corralled by West goalkeeper Gage Kindred-Noragon.
After the onslaught of pressure by the Hays attack, the Chargers settled in and held possession for longer periods of time. Despite the improved offense, West was unable to claw back into the contest, entering halftime with a two-goal deficit.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 3 West seed Washburn Rural took control of Thursday's Class 6A regional soccer final with two goals in the opening seven minutes on the way to a 3-0 win over No. 11 Free State at McElroy Field.
Washburn Rural soccer celebrates its Class 6A regional championship after Thursday's 3-0 win over Free State. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior Matthew Houser (9) scored two goals in the first seven minutes to power Washburn Rural to a 3-0 win over Free State in Thursday's Class 6A regional final. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior Matthew Houser scored twice within a span of a minute and 14 seconds at the 34:17 and 33:03 mark of the first half and junior Brody Grogan added a final goal with 22:56 left in the second half as the 13-2-3 Junior Blues advanced to next Monday's state quarterfinals.
Sophomore Brodye Kocher-Munoz was credited with a pair of assists for the Junior Blues while junior Miles Cook picked up the shutout in goal as the Junior Blues dominated the game from start to finish.
Rural outscored its two regional foes by an 11-0 margin after opening postseason with an 8-0 win over Maize on Monday.
"I just told them, I thought our two performances this week are some of the best stuff we've done all year and that's obviouly what you want,'' Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said. "All the little things we've been talking about kind of came to fruition the first 10 minutes. We've always been a set play team and we ran everything perfect (early). We earned four corners in the first five minutes and scored on a couple and really ran them right against a good team and a good goalkeeper (Yusef Iskandrani).
"A good start. If you get a lead, any anxiety you have you feel like you can kind of take a deep breath and we were able to relax. They were a good team, that was a good performance for us.''
