Volume 124 Issue 37
kansan.com
Thursday, October 13, 2011
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2011
- PAGE 10
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
"Goal scorers have that knack of being at the right place at the right time," Francis said. "You really can't teach that."
Freshman foward Ingrid Vidal scored her 10th goal of the season and her fourth game-winning goal.
"I felt like we needed to get back to the competitive part of it as a group," Francis said.
This week the Jayhawks worked toward developing their attacking identity with spirited drilling sessions on Tuesday.
Kansas prepares aggressive offense
RYAN MCCARTHY
Four games remain on the regular season schedule for Kansas soccer, and the team understands aggressive play will be crucial to reach postseason games.
That challenge starts today when the Jayhawks face off against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock, Texas.
rmccarthy@kansan.com
"At this point in the season you really want to be in a situation where you have something to play for and we've got everything to play for," coach Mark Francis said. "I don't think you can ask for more than that right now."
A win against Creighton was imperative, but Kansas (9-6) wants to tap into the aggressive playing it had at the beginning of the season.
After dropping two home contests to Texas A&M and Baylor, Kansas righted the ship against Creighton on Sunday with an overtime victory
Another important aspect of the Jayhawks' attitude is the continued consistent play of junior midfielder
Williamsium is one of the more durable players this fall. She's played a team-high 1,283 minutes.
Along with logging the most time on the pitch, Williamson also made a transition into the midfield from defender.
Shelby Williamson.
"I played there my freshman year," Williamson said. "I'm used to playing in the middle so playing outside was a little different for me this year."
Sophomore Shannon Renner took over Williamson's role on the outside part of the formation. This made her responsible for some of the fastest runners on the opposing side.
"I think it's really helpful because we can just hone in on their style of play," Renner said. "It helps us know specifically in each of our roles what we need to do for that game."
Now as Kansas travels to some of the toughest teams in the Big 12, it knows an extra effort will be needed to achieve its goals.
"It's hard, but we were on the road a lot at the beginning of the season," Williamson said. "I think we're used to it and ready to get some wins."
"We felt like we needed a little bit more of a defensive presence in the middle of the midfield and that's why we moved her there and I think she's done a great job with that," Francis said.
Edited by Ben Chipman
Having Williamson move up in the formation was an important shake-up that brought energy to the team.
From what I witnessed first-hand last year and have heard this season, players love playing for Gilla; they just haven't been able to win for him. Barring any monumental upsets, Gill will have six wins or fewer after two years on the job.
a stand-up guy and a successful football coach don't always go hand in hand.
The one thing working in Gill's favor right now is his contract, which doesn't include a buyout. If he was fired, he would receive the remaining salary left on his five-year deal. At $2 million per year, he is set to receive $6 million more after this season.
It's common knowledge that most college football coaches need at least three seasons to get their affairs in order, and besides that, it's highly unlikely KU Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger has the resources to shell out around $10 million to dismiss Gill and his assistants as well as hire a completely new staff. But if enough angry, big-money donors bang on Zenger's door and open up their checkbooks — and that's a big 'if' — things could change quickly.
Sophomore cornerback Tyler Patron pulls an Oklahoma State ball carrier to the ground near midfield during the first quarter of Saturday night's game at Boone Pickens Stadium. Patron had four tackles against OSU along with a defensive pass interference in the end zone during the second quarter.
stayed for the final act of the Jayhawks' blowout loss to the Cowboys watched their team get out-scored in the fourth quarter to Kansas.
Yes, it was against a mix of first, second and third string defenders that the Kansas offense faced in the fourth quarter, but the 14 points Kansas scored at the end of the game Saturday showed that the offense is resilient. The 28 total points Kansas scored helps put in perspective just how poorly this Kansas defense has been playing.
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN
Scoring 28 points against the No. 6 team in the nation, is no small accomplishment. Scoring 28 points would've been good enough to win 11 FBS games last week and tie two of them. Instead of being the 12th winning team in college football with 28-points or fewer, the Jayhawks lost by 42.
Edited by Jonathan Shorman
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Kansas actually scored one more point than Oklahoma State has allowed on average all season. The biggest margin of victory the Cowboys had before
Sophomore cornerback Tyler Patton suggested Wednesday that there is only one way to fix the defenses' problem: practice.
By admitting that some players are not following their coaches' instructions on the field, Gill helps shed some light on the defense, which ranks 34 yards worse than any other FBS team.
have put Kansas on track to win 20 games that week. Of every team that scored more than 34 points and lost in week five of the college football season, Kansas had the largest deficit, falling by 11 points.
Following the Oklahoma State game, coach Turner Gill broke down the defensive woes into two simple categories: "Our guys did not tackle quite as well, as far as early on," Gill said. "And the second thing is the guys were not doing what they were told to do in some cases."
"When it comes down to it,it's
It's a combination of a lack of athleticism, play-making and tackling that have led to the team's struggles, Gill said.
It appears that the Jayhawks got the message. Freshman linebacker Ben Heeney said a few of the players asked their teammates to pick up their performance on the practice field.
consistency." Patmon said. "We have to go hard in practice no matter what"
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"The past two days, our
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Gill said the team has practiced with more focus and energy the past two days. He said there is urgency with the team in practice, because they know
defensive practices have been 100-fold better than what it's been," Hceney said. "I just think we look a lot better even from last week to this week."
they have to be on all cylinders against No. 3 Oklahoma this Saturday.
If the play in practice has improved, the Jayhawks' defensive performance this season has served as a wake up call.
Edited by Alexandra Esposito
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