Senior forward Taylor Grant remembers the last time Missouri faced Kansas on the soccer pitch. Down 2-0 in the 84th minute, the Tigers scored three goals in the game’s final six minutes to complete the dramatic comeback over the Jayhawks on Oct. 21, 2011, at Walton Stadium in Columbia.
Goalkeeper McKenzie Sauerwein made 15 saves in goal for the Tigers, and Kaysie Clark played all 90 minutes at midfield, recording an assist on the game-tying goal. That was their freshman season. Both are now seniors.
Absent from that Friday’s action three years ago was the third of this year’s Mizzou seniors: Grant.
Grant played in 18 games as a freshman, excluding that Kansas game. She scored four goals in the 2011 season.
Three years later, in what could have been her final collegiate soccer game, Grant finally got to face Kansas on Sunday. Mizzou defeated the No. 19 Jayhawks 3-1 in Lawrence, Kansas, in the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Tournament.
Grant made her mark on the game, where temperatures were in the low 20s. She scored the game’s first two goals, putting the Tigers up 2-0. She also recorded an assist on Mizzou’s final goal, scored by junior midfielder Reagan Russell.
The first tally came from Grant chesting a cross into the net from a yard out in just the third minute. Her second goal came nearly 50 minutes later, when Grant took the ball into the box and sent a low shot past the Kansas goalkeeper.
“She really came out strong and did really well with stepping up and creating those two opportunities,” Clark said of the impact Grant had on the game. “That was awesome to see.”
When asked about her two goals Sunday, Grant humbly focused on her teammates and the good crosses and balls they fed her.
“I think that every player had a big part in that win,” Grant said. “It just happened to be that I got two goals. It was good to have two goals, but I think everyone had a huge part in it.”
Grant’s goals were her team-leading eighth and ninth goals of the season. She is tied for fourth in the Southeastern Conference in goals scored.
“She’s worked hard all the way up (from freshman year),” Clark said. “She’s finally let it loose this season. I’m really happy for her. We all know we can rely on everyone on the field, but especially her.”
But what the statistics wouldn’t show is that Grant experienced a 47-day scoring drought during her senior season. She didn’t record a goal from Sept. 14 through Oct. 30.
“She’s been riding the roller coaster, but she’s having a career year,” Missouri coach Bryan Blitz said. “She’s been resilient, and that’s a part of being a forward: You’re either a hero, or you’re the goat. I think that’s hard on any player, but I think she’s handled that well and it’s allowed her to continue to be successful.”
Regardless of whether she scores, Blitz said Grant stays on the field because of the “dirty work” she does defensively. Blitz praises Grant for being a “teacher by profession” and pressing against opponents’ defenders.
“That’s the number one thing,” Blitz said. “She sets the example for the really young forwards. It’s the selflessness that has allowed her to start almost every game.”
Grant and the rest of the Tiger squad will hit the pitch against No. 24 Washington on Friday in second-round action of the tournament.
Grant said she is thankful she and teammates got to renew their rivalry against Kansas last Sunday.
“It was great getting those two goals being my senior year and my last chance to play them,” Grant said. “It’s definitely up there with all the memories that I have. It will be one that I remember.”
