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MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Untimely goals culprit to Kansas' winless weekend
BEN CARROLL
@BCarroll91
Coming into the weekend with the nation's highest winning percentage, holding on to a six game winning streak and sitting on top of the Big 12, the No.9 Kansas soccer team dropped a pair of games this weekend and now sit in third place in the conference.
On Friday, the Jayhawks (4-2, 14-3) hosted the Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-3-1, 12-3-1), but a goal in the corner of the net that was struck with just 55 seconds to go in the first half spoiled the game for Kansas as Texas Tech won the match 1-0.
it came at a really poor time," senior defender Caroline Van Slambrouck said of Friday night's lone goal. "It's always hard because we built up a lot of momentum and it's always hard when there's a counterattack and it goes the
other way."
Despite not being able to tie the game, the Jayhawks battled back strong in the second half, according to Van Slambrouck, but the effort wasn't enough. The Jayhawks were unable to score in the second half and the Red Raiders won the game 1-0, handing Kansas its second loss of the season and first in the Big 12.
With Friday night's match not going as planned for Kansas, the Jayhawks needed a win to stay ahead of the rest of the pack in the Big 12.
The defending Big 12 champion West Virginia Mountaineers (4-0-1, 11-2-2) journeyed to Lawrence for the highly-anticipated match between arguably the best two conference teams this season. Coming off of the loss on Friday, the Jayhawks were looking to get back on track, but yet another inopportune goal was too much for
Kansas to overcome as it lost its second straight game.
The Mountaineers' forward Kate Schwindel scored what would eventually be the game-winner off a corner kick in just the fifth minute of play.
"The goal off the corner was just really disappointing for us," coach Mark Francis said. "It's the first one we've given up of a corner kick all year. We just weren't very quick to react to it, so that was a disappointing way to begin the game."
Schwindel added her second score of the day in the 77th minute, which put the match out of reach for the Jayhawks. West Virginia won 2-0.
However, the score wasn't indicative of how close the match actually was. Kansas outplayed West Virginia for most of the match, especially in the second half, which Francis said was the best half he's seen out of his players all season. The Moun-
Sophomore defenderTayler Estrada beats her defender down the field and looks for an open teammate.
GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
"I was really proud of my kids today." Francis said. "That's as well as we've played as a Kansas soccer team in many, many years."
tainees had nine shots to Kansas' seven, and also fouled two more times than the Jayhawks.
Francis said they have got to focus on next weekend now and carry over the pos-
ittives from this weekend to finish strong and get the final six points remaining on the schedule.
Even though the Jayhawks lost both games over the weekend, junior midfielder Liana Salazar thinks Kansas is still playing well but needs to regroup and keep pushing forward heading into senior night
against Iowa State on Friday.
"I think we're playing good, and today we dominated the game in the second half but unfortunately we couldn't score," Salazar said. "I think we're playing, right now, our best soccer."
- Edited by Alex Lamb
Sporting KC falls to Union, drops in playoff standings
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@HardyNFL
With less than two weeks until the opening round of the MLS playoffs, Sporting Kansas City dropped out of the top two spots of the Eastern Conference seeding by conceding a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night.
Kansas City's 229-minute shutout streak came to an end as Philadelphia rookie Brian Brown got on the other end of a cross from Christian
Maidana following a turnover in the midfield. Sporting KC missed a handful of opportunities in the first half, including two from leading scorer Dom Dwyer, and went into half trailing 1-0. The team didn't put a shot on target until the second half.
Sporting KC pulled level with a penalty kick from Dwyer just seven minutes into the second half as Soony Saad was brought down by the goalkeeper on a run into the box. Dwyer tied Preki's club record for penalty kicks in a
single season with seven, and now sits alone with the most goals across all competitions in club history (23).
The penalty kick, along with a 57th minute shot from Saad, were the only two shots on goal from Sporting KC all night long. Union rookie Pedro Ribeiro was subbed into the match in the 71st minute for Philadelphia and on his second touch, he fired a shot past goalkeeper Eric Kronberg. The 2-1 score stood for the remainder of the time. On top of its sinking playoff position after the loss, Sporting KC is up to its neck in injuries, and will hobble into its final match in both the CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) on Thursday, and the MLS regular season on Sunday.
Vermes was able to place Aurelien Collin back on the pitch, though it's uncertain if he's back to his full form after missing the last couple of games.
Defender Matt Besler (thigh), striker Claudio Bieler (groin), and goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum (calf) were all unable to play in the loss on Saturday. Manager Peter Vermes also decided to give Graham Zusi some rest after his appearance with the
national team in a friendly against Honduras last week, though he was listed as a substitute.
The team will be in Costa Rica to close out CCL play on Thursday. Kansas City will qualify for the elimination round of the tournament with a win, draw, or a loss by one goal.
Three days later, Sporting KC (14-7-12, 49 points) will close out MLS regular season play with a game against the New York Red Bulls (12-11-9, 47 points). A win will clinch the No.3 seed for the playoffs. Any other result does not guarantee any position for Kansas City.
A No. 4 or No. 5 seeding would place the team in the knockout round, with the winner moving on to play No.1 DC United.
Edited By Brian Hillix
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