THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2014
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Kansas soccer defeats Wyoming in first match
LIZ KUHLMANN
@LizKuhlmannUDK
The Kansas women's soccer team, clad in its infamous crimson and blue striped uniforms, took to the field at the new Rock Chalk Park stadium for the first time Aug. 22 to take on Wyoming University. The team's fresh offense also made its debut.
The offense in question, called a 4-2-1-1-2 by Coach Mark Francis and players, led the Jayhawks to a 3-1 win against the Cowgirls. Junior midfielder Liana Salazar said one of the team's objectives was to score within the first five minutes of the game, and they succeeded with her first goal at the minute-and-a-half mark.
Salazar said the experience of playing at the new facility was incredible, and the team felt closer and more connected to the people in attendance. Salazar said she was also thrilled with her bicycle kick that resulted in a goal.
"That's what we've been practicing," Salazar said. "Try to score in the first five minutes so we can have the tempo of the game to control it. That is something we've been practicing: keep pushing and scoring."
"That's how we drew it up," Francis said. "No, it was a great goal by Liana. She's that kind of person, she can pull special things like that out. But to start off like that, it kind of got the kids fired up. I think it was a good way to start for sure."
Francis said the new offense featured two midfielders playing high which is supposed to generate an attacking offense and allow plenty of opportunities for one vs. one plays. Unfortunately, this style of play led to nine offside calls on Kansas.
what we wanted it to do. We'll show them some video to get the offside part under control. Those calls are going to be one vs. one situations in the future."
MICHAEL O'BRIEN/KANSAN
"It's just timing on our part," Francis said. "We talked about it at halftime. The thing I did like was the mentality. We were looking to maybe stretch the game and manipulate it into
The women's soccer team celebrates after scoring a goal against the Wyoming Cowgirls on Friday, Aug. 21. The Jayhawks won 3-1 in the first game they played at the new Rock Chalk Park stadium.
Francis' game plan worked, and the Jayhawks generated plenty of scoring opportunities early on in the game, one of which led to their second goal at the 18-minute mark. Junior forward Ashley Williams fired a cross from the near side of the field into the six-yard box — a perfect setup for freshman forward Lois Heuchan to tap the ball into the net.
"We have really good freshmen that clicked immediately with our system," Williams said. "We didn't have to spend too much time working with them on that. The veterans were helping out and getting into a groove with them. Everything is clicking at the right time."
The rest of the half remained scoreless as both teams attacked with intensity but were unable to find the back
of the net. At the conclusion of the half, the Cowgirls led the Jayhawks 6-5 in shots on goal, but the Jayhawks' senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Stroud had tacked on two saves to the Cowgirls' zero.
After returning from the
locker room, the Jayhawks once again started the half quickly with a one-on-one breakaway goal by Williams four minutes into the half. According to Francis, that is exactly how the new offense is supposed to work. The
competing teams continued to battle it out while the Jayhawks improved on their offside calls. Wyoming still outshot Kansas as it began to get more
SEE SOCCER PAGE 12
Successful offseason amps Jayhawks
BEN FELDERSTEIN
@Ben_Felderstein
Coach Bill Self capped off an accomplished offseason for the Kansas men's basketball team when he nominated the players to complete the ALS ice bucket challenge.
On March 31, former Jayhawk guard Andrew Wiggins declared for the NBA draft, causing the first domino to fall.
A little, more than a week later, Wiggins' former teammate center Joel Embiid followed suit and declared for the draft, as well.
Normally, when two players
the caliber of Embiid and Wiggins leave a team, the following season tends to be a down year. But that won't be the case for the 2014-15 team.
Kansas is bringing in two top recruits with forward Cliff Alexander (No. 3) and guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (No. 11), according to the ESPN Top 100 rankings.
The Jayhawks have two more recruits joining the class: guard Devonte Graham and 16-year-old guard Sviatoslov Mykhailiuk from Ukraine.
Graham committed to Kansas shortly after former guard Naadir Tharpe announced he would be
leaving Kansas. Mykhailiuk is a foreign recruit and would be considered a top 100 ESPN recruit if he were eligible. His play style has been compared to Argentinian and San Antonio Spurs great, Manu Ginobli.
In mid-June, Kansas basketball was chosen by the United States International University Sports Federation to represent the United States in the World University
Not to mention, former top-15 recruit Wayne Selden Jr announced he would be returning to the Jayhawks for his sophomore season, which solidifies Kansas' backcourt.
Games in Gwangju, South Korea. The tournament will take place in the summer of 2015.
The games require that all of Kansas' participants were born in the United States and are either current students or recent graduates from the University of Kansas. The Jayhawks will select a 12-man roster to compete in the tournament.
During the 2014 NBA Draft, Embid's recent foot injury hurt his chances to be the No.1 overall pick, but opened the
SEE BBALL PAGE 12
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former Jayhawk Andrew Wiggins was the No.1 pick in the NBA draft in June. He was selected by Cleveland then traded to Minnesota.