PAGE 8
MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
+
Sporting KC plays to 0-0 draw, shows improvement
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@HardyNFL
Forward Krisztian Nemeth goes up to hit a clean header in the first half of Sporting KC's match against the New York Red Bulls on March 7. Kansas City played to a 1-1 draw
It wasn't exciting, and it wasn't pretty, but Sporting Kansas City earned a point Sunday against the Portland Timbers as the two teams played to a rather uneventful 0-0 draw.
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Luis Marin tabbed his first clean sheet of the year with three saves on the day, and defense looked greatly improved from the squad that allowed three goals to FC Dallas in its previous match.
Part of that success could be attributed to the return of center back and captain Matt Besler, who missed the game against FC Dallas last week. Another part of that was Besler's counterpart, defender Ike Opara, who leads the MLS in interceptions with 20 after notching eight Sunday.
"We've had three different lineups defensively in the first three games, but all the guys have worked hard and given their all," Opara said. "Tonight it finally gelled for the full 90 minutes. For the first two games, I thought we were good at times defensively, but we had a couple lapses. Tonight we did a good job of minimizing those lapses."
Two of Sporting Kansas City's best chances came off the head of Opara on two fantastic set pieces from the team, but he couldn't capitalize on either, as he blatantly shanked a point-blank shot while another was saved.
"I think Ike should have put one of his two away," manager Peter Vermes said. "The chances we had that were more clean-cut, we should have walked away with three [points] but I thought that he
did well."
The third match of the season gave Vermes a chance to evaluate a few new faces as well. Jimmy Medranda made his second MLS start of his career in place of the injured Krisztian Nemeth who was a surprise scratch at the left wing. Defender Jalil Anibaba made his career debut for Sporting Kansas City at left back.
"(Anibaba) was excellent, he really was," Vermes said. "He was great in his individual duels. ... At the same time, I thought he was pretty dangerous on a couple of set pieces. He almost had a diving header in the first half and he had that one that just squeaked past the post late in the second half."
in its lineup and its new formation.
"It's more important at this point in the season to improve on the field, and I think we did," midfielder Benny Feilhaber said. "I think we played better this game than we did against New York, and it was definitely a better performance than in Dallas."
Sporting KC will travel to Yankee Stadium next Saturday to take on New York City FC, which also played to a scoreless draw Saturday. First kick will be at 6 p.m. CST.
"We know it's a long season," Anibaba said. "It's not just about climbing up the table, but keeping things in perspective. We know what type of football we're capable of, and I thought we showed good spurts of that tonight."
- Edited by Samantha Darling
Defender Seth Sinovic heads the ball early in the first half on March 7 against a New York defender.
BEN BRODSKY/KANSAN
Women's golf heads to Calif. for second straight tourney
NICK COUZIN
@Ncouz
The women's golf team will take five of its players to San Diego for the San Diego State University Farms Invitational Match Play event lasting from today through March 25. The five players are seniors Minami Levonowich and Gabriella DiMarco, junior Yupaporn Kawinpakorn, sophomore Pornvipa Sakdee and freshman Kallie Gonzales.
This will be the first time the Jayhawks will compete in back-to-back tournaments this spring season, the SDSU Farms Invitational being the second tournament after the Arizona Wildcat Invitational.
Kansas will go up against Oklahoma State, Tennessee,
UNLV, Pepperdine, Arizona
State, San Diego State,
In order for us to win matches we must play to our strengths and give ourselves a look at par at worse on each hole, which will force our competitors to make birdies to beat us."
ERIN O'NEIL Women's golf coach
Nevada, New Mexico and UC Irvine.
California, Colorado
Houston, Long Beach State
Boise State, Michigan
"This tournament is very different from any other collegiate tournament we have ever played in since the format is match play for the entire event rather than stroke play," Kansas coach Erin O'Neil said in a press release. "In order for us to win matches we must play to our strengths and give ourselves a look at par at worse on each hole, which will force our competitors to make birdies to beat us."
The course at Farms Golf Club is a par 72,6.237-yard confine, and the order of match play will be based off each team's Golfstat ranking.
Edited by Lane Cofas
+