The Kansas State soccer team defeated the Drake Bulldogs 1-0 Thursday at the K-State Soccer Complex, giving the team a school-best 3-0 record to start the season.

The Wildcats got a quick opportunity in the eighth minute when sophomore midfielder Brookelynn Entz sent a shot sailing over the outstretched arms of Drake goalkeeper Kelsie Stone. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, it passed over the crossbar, keeping the game scoreless at the start of the first half.

Entz’s shot was the only shot that ended up off the frame for the Wildcats in the first half. Drake followed up with two shots-on-goal in the first half both coming in the first 18 minutes of play. Those were their only two shots in the first half.

K-State had a flurry of shots-on-goal between the 22nd and 25th minute. Sophomore defender Aly Rocha managed one, and freshman forward Chloe Fisher provided two more within a minute of being off the bench.

The story of the first half was the performance of K-State’s five substitutes, who had three of the Wildcat’s shots-on-goal.

“We literally have 22 to 24 players that can start for us at any given moment,” head coach Mike Dibbini said to K-State Sports. “It is really hard to say that they are subs because they can come in an give us an impact right away.”

After that flurry, Drake found a little momentum. The Bulldogs got back-to-back-to-back corner kicks in the 39th minute.

Each corner kick provided a scoring opportunity for the Bulldogs. They came almost untouched across the face of the Wildcat’s goal before bouncing mercifully out of bounds off the glove of K-State’s sophomore goalkeeper Emma Malsy.

At the half, K-State had four shots-on-goal recorded compared to Drake’s two shots-on-goal.

In the 54th minute, junior forward Katie Cramer found sophomore midfielder Christina Baxter with a crossing pass in the box. Baxter’s shot hammered off the post, and in the ensuing scramble for possession, K-State was fouled.

Cramer rolled the free kick through the Drake defense for a goal, her second of the year.

“I looked at [Dibbini] when [the free kick] happened, I said ‘I want this, I want this shot’ and I just knew,” Cramer said. “I was confident in myself, that’s honestly unlike me. I just wanted it so bad and I think that helped me out a lot.”

In the 67th minute, senior midfielder Morgan Mauck sent the ball on a wire toward the back of the Bulldog net, but a diving stop by Stone would keep her off the scoreboard.

A Drake scoring opportunity in the 74th minute was foiled as Malsy split two Bulldogs to grab a loosely bouncing ball at the top of the 6-yard box.

Despite a frantic volley from the Bulldogs in the last ten minutes, Malsy managed a shutout. K-State has not allowed a goal in regular season play this season.

The Wildcats totaled eight shots-on-goal in the match on 14 total shots. Drake managed three shots-on-goal.

The Wildcats will be back in action when they take on the Santa Clara University Broncos in Santa Clara, California, on August 30 at 9:30 p.m. You can catch the game on 101.5 KROCK.