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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SOCCER
Victory against Oklahoma secures championship spot
STELLA LIANG
sliang@kansan.com
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.
we won the game."
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, 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
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.
Junior midfielder Jamie Fletcher kicks the ball toward the goal against Oklahoma on Friday. The Jayhawks won the game 2-1.
side of the field playing defense.
FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
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
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 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.
durr turn into goal.
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.
CROSS COUNTRY
-Edited by Casey Hutchins
Jayhawks finish strong at Big 12 championships
DANIEL HARMSEN
dharmsen@kansan.com
On a beautiful November morning at the Big 12 Championships, hosted by the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco, Texas, the Kansas Men's and Women's Cross Country teams took 6th and 7th place respectively.
The men's team was led by senior Josh Munsch, who crossed the tape at 23:6.8, and juniors Evan Landes, Reid Buchanan and James Wilson. With their 13th and 15th place finishes, Munsch and Landes were named All-Conference.
Sophomore Hannah Richardson was at the front of the women's pack, and also earned All-Conference. She finished the 6k race in 11th place, the highest 12 finish by a jayhawk in two seasons. Twin freshmen Nashia Baker and Malika Baker placed 28th and 32nd, senior Natalie Becker took 33rd, and freshman Courtney Coppington rounded out the five in 41st.
The competition was particularly stiff this year. The men faced three teams in the top 30, and the
women's side was deep with talent as well. Forty-six of the 81 athletes competing on the men's side finished the 8k race averaging less than 5 minutes per mile, and the first female finisher Marielle Hall, from the University of Texas, finished the 6k course in 19:38.3, averaging 5:16 per mile.
The defending National Champion, Oklahoma State, won yet another Big 12 Championship on the men's side, and the Iowa State Cyclones repeated as well on the women's side.
The Jayhawks ran tough, but the pack spread out a little too much for coach Stanley Redwine's liking.
"I thought our front guys ran well today, but as a team they didn't run as well as I wanted them to," Redwine said.
Josh Munsch added his thoughts on the meet and the blazing fast pace early on in the race.
"The race went out pretty quickly and never really slowed down," Munsch said. "We were expecting to make a move around the 4 or 5k mark, but it went out pretty fast."
their inexperience surfaced against the veteran competition.
"We're young, and when you're young there are going to be some mistakes made and things to improve upon," Redwine added. "When you're that close to third place, there are definitely some things you're doing well."
The women's side ran well, but
Richardson completed the 6k course in 20:56.8, averaging 5:36 per mile, but sees the NCAA Midwest Regional race in Ames, Iowa on Friday, Nov. 15 as an opportunity to cap off an excellent season.
"I went out with the front girls, but around the 3k I wasn't aggressive enough," Richardson said. "The last half of the race is really when the race starts. I didn't think I did as well as I could today."
The Jayhawks will have two weeks to work on bringing runners 4-7 closer to the front of the pack. If they can do that, these young teams will make Redwine and the rest of the Jayhawk nation smile.
Edited by James Ogden
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
Sophomore point guard Lamaria Cole surveys the court against Emporia State Sunday afternoon. The Jayhawks won 61-53.
Kansas uses stout defense to squeak by Emporia State
edunbar@kansan.com
The Javihawks came out flat Sunday afternoon against the Emporia State Hornets in their final exhibition game this year in Allen Fieldhouse. The Hornets started the game on a 9-2 run, while Kansas
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shot just 1-7 from the field before the first media timeout.
"They came out and threw a punch, which is what you should do," coach Bonnie Henrickson said. Eventually the Jayhawks settled down, taking a two point halftime lead 33-31 after a squiggish first half.
"I thought for us, the best part of the whole afternoon was the run we had coming out of the locker room, which was probably the cushion we needed to get the win," Henrickson said. "Someone asked me if we changed things defensively and adjusted, and the honest answer to that is no."
Something happened in the locker room during the half though, because the lajhawks came out firing on all cylinders defensively.
"I thought they had a little more intensity [on defense]. They went on a little bit of a run, and that hurt us," Emporia State guard Haley Parker said.
There may not have been any adjustments to the game plan, but the intensity of Kansas' defense was much higher to start the second half, and the girls were fired up.
THE
The Jayhawks began the second half with a 7-0 run to take a 41-33 lead. ESU did not score until the 16:40 mark, and the Jayhawks never looked back.
"I thought there was a stretch there in the second half where we missed four or five [shots] right there at the rim," Emporia State coach Jory Collins said. "We executed and just didn't make the shot.
F
The lo
by the
Obviously their length and athleticism keeps you from doing a lot of things"
"We were aggressive at times and didn't make good decisions," Henrickson said. "When we did [make good decisions], we made a great run and [created] some great opportunities."
Henrickson said the lajayhaws needed their defense to step up, because offensively they were not executing as well as she would have liked.
Junior guard Natalie Knight said she thinks Kansas' defense can have this kind of intensity every night, but the team needs to work on its consistency on the defensive end of the floor.
"I think at times we were really good, but we've just got to bring it every night," Knight said. "We need to increase our ball pressure and boxing out is going to be big for us down the stretch."
The Jayhawks' defense held ESU to 23.3 percent shooting for the game. In the second half, the Hornets shot just 5-35 from the field, a meager 14.3 percent. Laura Patrick, the Hornets leading returning scorer, shot just 2-10 from the field.
The real season starts next week for the Jayhawks, with a game against Oral Roberts Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse.
Edited by James Ogden
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