MANHATTAN – K-State officially cut the ribbon on the completion of Buser Family Park in a pregame ceremony and bid an emotional goodbye to the 2019 senior class in a post-match ceremony. In between the festivities of the final home match, K-State held its own with West Virginia, but the Mountaineers came out on top, 3-0.
“We’ve competed all year, this one was another one of those,” said K-State head coach Mike Dibbini about Sunday’s result. “I thought we played well enough to win the game. We had some balls sitting on a silver platter for us today to take the lead, tie the lead, you name it. We couldn’t convert in those moments and they converted on their moments so, you know, story of our season. We’re a very good, competitive team, having a great identity, we’re just lacking a little bit of luck and putting the ball in the back of the net to keep us in the matches. I’m proud of these girls, they played hard, they battled hard and we’ve come a long way.”
In the pregame ceremony, Dibbini was joined by K-State director of athletics Gene Taylor, University President Richard Myers and members of the Buser family to cut the ribbon to officially dedicate and signal the completion of Buser Family Park.
For the young program, the facility includes a seating for 1,400 fans, a new locker room, team meeting room, player lounge, training room, offices for the coaching, press level and suite seating.
Senior goalkeeper Emma Malsy was impressed with the newest K-State facility.
“It’s been a long, long time coming so to see the girls react and see how it’s affected their mentality and just how they approach playing, it’s a huge deal for us and this is something that we really, really needed. We’re very appreciative of our donors and very thankful that they made this happen for us.””
In the match, K-State (3-12-2, 1-7-0 Big 12) controlled a majority of the first half. The Wildcats outshot the Mountaineers, 8-3, and carded a 3-2 edge in corner kicks.
However, West Virginia (9-6-2, 4-3-1 Big 12) tallied the first goal of the match late in the opening stanza. Aaliyah Scott played a through ball to Gabby Robinson. Robinson took a touch on the right side of the 18-yard box and finished by kissing her shot off the left post.
In the second half, West Virginia notched goals in the 64th and 65th minutes from Enzi Broussard and Jade Gentile, respectively, to give the Mountaineers distance from K-State’s pesky offensive attack.
West Virginia finished the afternoon with a 14-13 edge in total shots and an 8-3 lead in shots on goal. The Mountaineers ended the match with a 7-4 lead in corner kicks.
K-State’s senior class of Katie Cramer, Laramie Hall, Emma Malsy, Aly Rocha and Ashley Zane were recognized in the post-match ceremony for their contributions to helping build the program over the first four seasons of play. Zane had a chance to reflect on some of her memories after the match.
“Our first win was awesome, we won 6-0, our first one, was really a cool moment. Overall, just the moments with my teammates, I’ll just always remember, I’ll cherish those memories. Having Laramie Hall as my best friend, she’s so awesome and fun and I have so many memories with her and so it’ll be cool to keep those with me.”
Kansas State will close out its fourth season of action on Thursday at 17th-ranked Texas Tech at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FOX Sports Southwest. The game will also be available for free at kstatesports.com.
– kstatesports.com –