Victory against Oklahoma secures championship spot

Originally published in the University Daily Kansan on Nov. 3, 2013

In the most crucial game of the season, the Jayhawks came through. The Kansas soccer team (7-10-2, 2-5-1) played its last regular season game Friday needing a win or a tie against Oklahoma (4-13-1, 1-7) to earn a spot in this week’s Big 12 Soccer Championship. Kansas earned a 2-1 victory over Oklahoma and the eighth seed in the tournament.

The win was far from smooth. After Kansas got an early 1-0 lead, Oklahoma came back and tied it up with 15 minutes left to play in the match. The last 10 minutes of the game were frantic for both teams and was capped by the winning score with less than three minutes to play.

“There have been so many games this year, especially in the conference, where I come off the field at the end of the game and felt really, really good about how we played, but we lost. Today, we played like crap to be honest,” coach Mark Francis said. “We battled and we fought really hard and that’s why we won the game.”

Junior midfielder Jamie Fletcher scored both goals for the Jayhawks Friday. She came into the game with 59 shots on the season, which was the most on the team and fourth overall in the league, but only had one goal.

Fletcher put the Jayhawks on top 1-0 with 16 minutes left in the first half on a play that started with a corner kick. Junior defender Haley Yearout sent the corner toward sophomore midfielder Hanna Kallmaier. Senior forward Caroline Kastor took possession of the ball and had a shot blocked by a Sooner defender. Off that rebound and amidst the scramble, Fletcher kicked the ball in for a score. She said she credits some of her offensive explosion to just being at the right place at the right time.

“In the first goal, the ball was just sitting there and I was like ‘ahhh’ and hit it in,” Fletcher said. “Sometimes you’re lucky.”

In the second half, the Jayhawks were looking to protect their lead. Often, when Oklahoma was making an offensive attack, every Kansas player on the field was on their side of the field playing defense.

With about 15 minutes left to play, the Oklahoma offense came through with its own goal. Oklahoma forward Daisy Cardona grabbed a loose ball in front of the net and sent it in past junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Stroud. The Sooners seemed to have grabbed the momentum and started looking for a second goal or to send the match into overtime.

The comeback would fall short when Oklahoma goalkeeper Kassidie Stade earned a red card and an ejection with less than five minutes left. Kastor had run past the defense and was one-on-one with Stade, who came out of the box and tackled Kastor. Stade was replaced by Miranda Larkin who had only played in two previous games.

Larkin would concede the winning goal to Fletcher in the 88th minute. Fletcher knocked in a header off a corner by Yearout.
Both teams had missed opportunities to score before these final minutes. Oklahoma missed a penalty kick wide right, and Kastor had three run-outs and shots that didn’t turn into goals.

Stroud added 11 saves to her season today. She has 99 on the season, which is the most among conference goalkeepers.

The match also marked the last regular season game for three seniors on the team. Kastor and defenders Madi Hillis and Shannon Renner were honored in the Senior Day festivities. All three saw double-digit minutes in the match, and Kastor is currently tied for second on Kansas’ all time goal-scoring chart.

“The three seniors are awesome,” Fletcher said, “I just want them to play more games and keep on going.”

Friday was also the last time Kansas will play at Jayhawk Soccer Complex. Next season, the Jayhawks will move their matches to Rock Chalk Park, which is currently under construction.

As the eighth seed in the tournament, Kansas will face the number one seed West Virginia on Wednesday, Nov. 6, the first day of the three-day tournament. West Virginia is the regular season champion and is 7-1 in conference play, including a 2-0 victory against the Jayhawks on Oct. 18. The game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., and will be played at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Mo.

Jayhawk soccer looks for first Big 12 victory against Horned Frogs

Originally published in the University Daily Kansan on Oct. 10, 2013

The season has been like a roller coaster for the Kansas soccer team. As soon as it seems like the Jayhawks have become more consistent or have momentum on their side, they can’t seem to find a way to score. This streak has continued on to the conference play, as the Jayhawks have remained scoreless through their first two Big 12 matches. The result is a 0-1-1 conference record, with a loss to Texas and a tie with Iowa State.

Friday, Kansas will host the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs at home for a chance to earn its first conference victory. Kansas is currently in sixth place, while TCU is tied for seventh. Coach Mark Francis stressed the importance of winning home conference games, and said earning a victory Friday, Kansas’ only game this weekend, is essential.

“We’ve put all our energy into the one game,” Francis said. “I thought we played really well on Sunday. We just have to be a little more efficient in the attacking third.”

TCU (4-6-3, 0-2-1) is also winless, and scoreless, in the conference season. TCU tied with Oklahoma State after two overtime periods during their last match. The Horned Frogs had 20 shots in that game, with four on goal. Junior goalkeeper Vittoria Arnold had five saves in the game and has an overall save percentage of 72.5 percent.

The Horned Frogs have been shut out in six matches this season. Their scoring leader is freshman forward Michelle Prokof, with six goals this season.

She has taken 26 shots, which is 23 percent of the team’s total. In TCU’s last victory, which was on Sept. 22 against Central Arkansas, Prokof scored three times.

“I think it’s a good matchup,” Francis said. “They are definitely more athletic than they were last year. They’re very organized, extremely feisty. We have to come out and compete.”

Kansas’ last victory was also on Sept. 22, against Illinois State. The team’s last goal came against Santa Clara on Sept. 27. With 16 minutes left in the match, sophomore midfielder Liana Salazar scored the goal off a free kick. Salazar is second on the team with three goals, and senior forward Caroline Kastor is first with four.

Despite being shut out the last two matches, the Jayhawks have had opportunities to score. In the last match against Texas, one of the best opportunities was off the head of sophomore midfielder Hanna Kallmaier. During a corner kick, Kallmaier sent a header that hit the left goal post.

Kansas is not lacking in shots. Junior midfielder Jamie Fletcher has had 40 shots so far, Salazar has 35 and Kastor has 34. Each of these players are in the top 10 in the Big 12 in number of shots taken.

“This Friday is going to come down to being more technical, more clinical,” Kastor said. “I think just playing with our heart and wanting it more than TCU. Especially in the Big 12, that’s the difference between each team, who wants it more. We definitely have the ability to do it, we just need to execute.”

Kansas will match up against TCU at 4 p.m. on Friday at home.

Chelsea Gardner and Asia Boyd lead Kansas Women’s Basketball to victory against SIU-Edwardsville

Originally published in the University Daily Kansan on Nov. 14, 2013

Early in the second half, Asia Boyd found herself wide open at the top of the key. She let her fourth three-pointer of the game go and watched it fall through the net, for the fourth time.

Seconds early on the previous possession, she hit a three-pointer from the corner, en route to an 18-point scoring night on 6-10 shooting, including 4-5 from beyond the arc. Boyd helped the Kansas women’s basketball team to a 72-56 victory over the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars Wednesday night.

“When you make one, you want to make another one, so that’s just what happens,” Boyd said about her shooting performance.

Chelsea Gardner led the team with 19 points on 5-7 shooting from the field and 9-10 from the free-throw line.

Coach Bonnie Henrickson said that against a smaller team, which the Cougars are, the gameplan was to throw it inside to Gardner.

“I thought we were pretty opportunistic at times with throwing it in to Chelsea,” Henrickson said. “Sometimes we missed her.”

This left the perimeter players open at times, and the Cougars dared the Jayhawks to shoot the long jump shots. Kansas connected on 6-18 three-point shots.

Kansas led from the beginning, starting the game on a 16-2 run which included Boyd’s first three-pointer, two lay-ups from Gardner and a three-pointer by Natalie Knight. The Cougars’ only lead was 2-0 on the first basket of the game.

After the Jayhawks jumped out to the 16-2 lead, the Cougars went on a run of their own, scoring eight straight points to get to within six, but that was the closest they were for the rest of the game.

The Jayhawk defense hounded the Cougars, especially early. They limited the Cougars to 20 first-half points and forced two shot-clock violations from the opponent.

Against the smaller team, the Jayhawks were beaten on the glass on both ends of the floor. SIU-Edwardsville had 43 total rebounds, with 16 of them coming from the offensive glass. Kansas had 32 total rebounds.

“We’ve got to get on the glass,” Henrickson said. “We’ve got to get a guard on the glass.”

Starting point guard Lamaria Cole had a productive night with new career highs in points, steals and assists. She scored eight points, had six steals and passed out five assists to go along with three turnovers.

The fieldhouse was loudest after her lay-up with 12:32 left in the game. Cole had a steal near midcourt and raced toward the basket and laid it in.

Junior Natalie Knight struggled in her 15 minutes on the court. She was often open beyond the arc and was unafraid to shoot the ball, but only connected on 1-9 of her shots. She contributed three assists and three steals.

Henrickson said she was pleased by the team’s effort, but there are aspects to work on, including offensive rebounding.

“Our effort is where it needs to be, from an energy standpoint,” Henrickson said. “They just have to clean up pretty quick, and it’s about what’s coming.”