Bishop Carroll graduates help Washburn reach NCAA women’s soccer national title game

A group of Wichita natives who all graduated from Bishop Carroll have helped power the Washburn women’s soccer team to the NCAA Division II national championship game on Saturday.

Khloe Schuckman, Jadyn Allen and Taylor Bockover all graduated from Carroll in 2021 and currently play a key role for Washburn, while Lindsey Maul, a 2023 graduate, has made an immediate impact for an Ichabod team that now has a 21-3-1 record.

Washburn will play Point Loma (Calif.) in the national championship match at 11 a.m. Central time on Saturday in Matthews, N.C. The game will be available to watch on streaming through the NCAA’s website.

“It’s been so much fun to be able to all play together in college,” said Allen, an all-district midfielder who has three goals and two assists this season. “We’ve all been very supportive of each other and we have a lot of team chemistry. I don’t think you can do this well without it.”

Washburn coach Davy Phillips, in his sixth season, hadn’t really recruited the Wichita area until he scouted Kapaun Mt. Carmel defender Emily Michaelis, who went on to start 55 career games as an Ichabod.

One of the high school games Phillips watched of Michaelis was when Kapaun played Carroll, which is how he became aware of a trio who would eventually help his program reach its first national championship game.

“I was just super impressed with that team and I really thought they were a dominant team in the Wichita area,” Phillips said. “After watching them play Kapaun, it was hard not to go after those kids.”

Schuckman’s speed made her nearly impossible to defend in the City League and it has translated to the next level. She is Washburn’s leading scorer with 11 goals and five assists, which earned her third team All-American honors.

During Washburn’s three-game run to a Central region championship, Schuckman netted five goals and the game-winner in each game.

“Speed kills and that’s always been Khloe,” Carroll coach Greg Rauch said. “She’s always had that in her bag and she’s worked really hard to hone her skills at the college level. She’s not just a one-trick pony. She’s fast, but she’s also perfected her craft.”

Allen has been a “warrior” for Washburn off the bench in the midfield, while Bockover has logged the most minutes of any field players this season on the Ichabod’s back line and Maul has earned seven starts as a true freshman.

“What I like so much about (Bockover and Maul) is that they have fantastic speed and they’re incredible two-way players for us,” Phillips said. “In the system that I run, I challenge my outside backs to go forward a lot and help with the attack. They’re both natural defenders, but they really are terrific going forward.”

After playing together in the 2021 season with Carroll finishing third place in Class 5A, Maul said she kept close tabs on how the trio fared at Washburn. When it came time to make a final decision in her recruiting, Maul said the appeal of reuniting with her former Carroll teammates was a factor.

“It was so much fun playing with them back then and to have a chance to be able to play with them again, it was just a really great opportunity,” Maul said. “We have such good chemistry together. Everyone understands each other and we know everyone’s playing styles.

“Having us all back together was really one of my main reasons why I wanted to come to Washburn.”

With four players from the same high school, the Carroll grads have also enjoyed having so much family support this season. The road trips together have been a trip down memory lane of when the players played on the same club soccer team.

They’ll be plenty of Wichita support on Saturday in North Carolina cheering on the Carroll graduates trying to win a national championship.

“The support from our friends and family this season has really been awesome,” Allen said. “I don’t think we could do what we’re doing without the support from our families and from people back home. We get text messages all the time from Bishop Carroll people, motivating us to do our best.”