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TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SOCCER
Talent outweighs soccer team's inexperience
The Jayhawks added 11 new faces this year
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
Sophomore forward Caroline Kastor dribbles by Tennessee defender Hannah Hut during overtime of Friday's season opener at the Javawk Soccer Sport Complex. The Jayhawks lost in overtime 2-1.
RYAN MCCARTHY
rmccarthy@kansan.com
In front of reporters and flashing camera lights inside Allen Fieldhouse, soccer coach Mark Francis addressed the double-edged nature of this year's team.
"The positives is we've got a lot of talented new kids," Francis said. "On the flip side, organizationally we've got a lot of people trying to figure things out right now."
Francis addressed his disappointments in last year's 6-13 finish, but he thinks he has added the necessary pieces to make Kansas more impressive offensively.
Still, Francis sees potential in his new roster.
"I really like the mentality of this group and the personality of this group," Francis said. "I think they are extremely competitive."
The Jayhawks lost their exhibition opener to Butler 3-2 on Sunday, but took away some positives that will help them going into a difficult first weekend.
The Jayhawks have focused on tightening up the back end of their 4-3-3 formation.
"We have a lot of new faces back there so just really focus on practicing and communicating and meshing well together on the defensive end," senior midfielder Kelsey Clifton said.
Another early mystery for the team this year is who will be in goal. Junior Kat Liebetrau and redshirt freshmen are battling for the starting spot, but at this point it's anvone's guess who's going to start.
season is incorporating Liana Salazar and Ingrid Vidal into the mix of players.
"The good news is we have two really good goal keepers," Francis said. "Who's going to start on Friday? I honestly couldn't tell you."
a further element to the pre-
Both players spent this summer competing for Colombia, their home country, in the World Cup. They didn't arrive to Lawrence until early August.
"They bring a different level of play I think," Clifton said. "They are very quick and crafty on the ball. I think they are going to do great things for us this year."
For the small group of upperclassmen, the goal is to get all the newcomers on the same page
before the regular season kicks off.
"At first we definitely put a lot of pressure on ourselves because we definitely wanted them to have the same mindset as we did," junior midfielder Whitney Berry said.
Now with all the preseason games finished and summer conditioniing
winding down, the Jaywaks are excited to start working towards the ultimate goal of making the NCAA Tournament.
"It's definitely the one thing I really want to do," Clifton said. "Last year was a disappointment, and I don't think any of us want to go
back there."
Kansas opens up its regular season on Friday against Tennessee at 5 p.m. at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
Edited by Jayson Jenks
BASEBALL
Brewers roll against the Pirates
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The one he'd like to have back is all it took for the surging Brewers to extend their mastery of Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH — Pirates starter Jeff Karstens made 102 pretty effective pitches against Milwaukee on Monday.
Karstens gave up a two-run single to opposing pitcher Chris Narveson in the fourth inning and Milwaukee won the opening game of a doubleheader 8-7 to beat Pittsburgh for the 13th straight time.
"They're just on a big roll," Karstens said. "I really can't describe it. It's one of those things where we've got to be better than we are."
Nobody's better than the Brewers these days. Milwaukee has won 19 of 22 to move nine games in front of second-place St. Louis while the Pirates — in first five weeks ago — now trail the Brewers by $16\frac{1}{2}$ games.
"It's been one of those things where they're playing really, really good baseball right now," Karstens said. "We had them where we wanted them for a little while, we just weren't able to come up with a win tonight."
That's been the case every time the teams have faced each other over the last 13 months. Milwaukee hasn't lost to Pittsburgh since July 21, 2010, and has outscored the Pirates 51-16 while winning all nine meetings this year.
giving up two runs and six hits in seven innings. His only costly mistake came on a 1-2 curveball to Narveson with the bases loaded in the fourth.
Karstens (9-7) hung in there.
Narveson, a. 230 career hitter, smacked a single to right to put Milwaukee up 2-0.
"It was probably too good a pitch for him to take," Karstens said. "I've got to make better pitches than that in situation."
Narveson (9-6) figured he knew what was coming when Karstens got ahead in the count.
"I didn't really sit soft but I knew he might come in with the breaking ball and I was able to stay back on it long enough to get it down the line," he said.
Ryan Ludwick hit his 12th homer of the season.
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Mason Finley heaves the shot during the shot put event at the 84th Kansas Relays Finley placed third in shot put in the 26th World University Games in China.
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Far from home: Finley, Dixon compete in China
TRACK & FIELD
MITCHELL FRIESEN
mfriesen@kansan.com
In a competition more than 10,000 miles from Lawrence, the performances of KU track and field athletes Diamond Dixon and Mason Finley weren't so foreign at the 26th World University Games.
Just as they've done throughout their careers at Kansas, the pair finished off their trip to Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, in solid fashion.
Even though she was the youngest runner in the eight-women final, Dixon wasn't intimidated stepping into the block for the 400-meter sprint. Dixon, the reigning Midwest Female Track Athlete of the Year and an All-American in two events, finished fourth overall and just 0.4 seconds away from earning a medal.
And while Dixon used her speed at this year's World University Games, Finley used his strenth when he competed in the shot put and discus throw.
Finley began his time at the games with the shot put. After a mere single throw in the morning qualifying, his throw of 18.92 meters was enough to secure a spot in the finals that evening.
He hit a road block, however. Battling food poisoning for much of the competition, Finley forfeited his final three attempts, leaving him in third place and earning him his first international medal of his career.
With a few days to recover. Finley finished second in his discus flight with a throw of 58.31 meters.
again prove to be some obstacles in his path during the finals. With two of his first four attempts sailing foul, Finley found himself near the bottom of the 12-man leaderboard.
However, there would once
1
But on his sixth and final attempt, Finley powered a throw of 59.17 meters, moving him into
Finley and Dixon will now make the long trip back to Lawrence and start preparing for another track season.
eighth place, where he would end the event.
Edited by Jayson Jenks