8B
SPORTS
SOCCER
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2008
Hawks beat out at Big 12 Tournament
Junior goalkeeper Julie Hanley and sophomore defender Katie Williams comfort each other after Missouri knocked Kansas out of the Big 12 Tournament in San Antonio on July 4. The game went into overtime and was decided by a shootout.
Tyler Waugh/KANSAN
BY ANDREW WIEBE
awiebe@kansan.com
SAN ANTONIO — In the days leading up to the Big 12 Tournament, coach Mark Francis asked his team who wanted the ball if the game came down to penalty kicks.
On Friday night, tied 1-1 with No.20 Missouri and with spotkicks looming, Francis asked again. He wanted to be sure nobody's nerves had gotten the best of them.
"If they don't want to take one, then you don't want them taking one," Francis said. "A lot of it just comes down to confidence."
In the end, it came down to a mixture of confidence, skill and pure luck as Missouri converted four attempts from the penalty spot to Kansas' three, advancing to yesterday's Big 12 final against Colorado and forcing Francis' team to wait until tonight to learn its NCAA Tournament fate.
The Jayhawks (12-7-2) took an early advantage when senior goalkeeper Stephanie Baugh, substituted specifically for the shootout, got a hand on the Tiger's first attempt to push it past the post. But Missouri converted its next four attempts, and sophomore midfielder Sarah Salazar and junior goalkeeper Julie Hanley each had their shots saved to prevent Kansas from playing in its first Big 12 Tournament final.
"It always sucks losing in penalty kicks because, as coach said, it's a lottery when you are up there," junior Monica Dolinsky said. "You have to be brave to take a kick. You don't blame anyone so we just have to go from here."
The result goes down as a tie rather than a loss, which could benefit the Jayhawks when the 64-team NCAA Tournament field is announced tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPNews. Kansas is 40th in RPI in the latest national rankings and has played 10 ranked teams this season, finishing with a 4-5-1 record.
"I'll be very surprised if you don't get in the tournament, very
surprised", Francis said, "It would a travesty if we don't."
A bit of luck followed by a piece of spectacular skill from Dolinsky gave Kansas the lead in the seventh minute. Junior forward Shannon McCabe chipped a cross into the middle of the box, and Missouri's poor clearance fell to Dolinsky, who settled under pressure and pulled the trigger from 18 yards. Her shot found the top-right corner, dipping under the crossbar and just past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Tasha Dittamore.
The goal gave Dolinsky 27 points on the year, tied for the fourth-highest total in program history.
Kansas nearly added a second when Dolinsky and freshman forward Kortney Clifton caught Missouri's defense off guard with some dead-ball trickery. With the ball spotted 28 yards from the goal, Dolinsky feigned a shot and laid the ball off to Clifton, who was running free past the wall. The Wichita native took one touch but ripped a shot directly into the hands of Dittamore.
The Tigers had a goal disallowed for goalkeeper interference in the first half while outshooting the layhawks 5-4, though Francis' team had better opportunities.
Neither team created many scoring opportunities in the second half until the 65th minute, when the Tigers came within inches of tying the game. Midfielder Mo Redmond whipped a corner kick into the penalty area where midfielder Meghan Pfeiffer flicked a header toward the back post. Luckily for the Jayhawks, Dolinsky was positioned perfectly and headed the ball off the line to safety.
For the remainder of the half, the ball spent most of the time in Kansas' side of the field as Missouri did its best to climb back into the contest. The Tigers' aerial ability burned the Jayhawks in the 71st minute when a free kick opportunity tied the game at one.
cer played. It was more of a battle. Missouri is a very tough team to play, and you have to come ready for the fight."
This time there was no Dolinky to clear the ball off the line as
Edited by Adam Mowder
Pfeiffer rose above the defense to loop a header over Hanley.
were fortunate to force overtime as their opponent took 15 second-half shots.
"When the ball gets played in the box, you have to challenge for it." Francis said. "Sometimes you win it and sometimes you don't. They got on the end of a few. It was a good header."
The laybacks registered just one shot in the second half and
"Today, to be honest, was kind of an ugly game," Francis said. "There wasn't a whole lot of soc-
SOCCER
Team hopes for at-large bid to NCAA Tournament
BY ANDREW WIEBE
awiebe@kansan.com
awiebe@kansan.com
Kansas will find out whether its season merits an NCAA Tournament at-large berth tonight when the 64-team field is announced.
the layhawks finished the season 12-7-2 (5-5-2) after a 5-1 start catapulted them into the national rankings. Kansas hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2004, narrowly missing out on postseason play in 2005 and 2006.
Coach Mark Francis said he is extremely confident the selection committee will award his team an at-large berth after a season in which the Jayhawks played 10 Top 25 teams in 21 games.
"I told the girls, 'Expect to play next week,'" Francis said following Friday's loss to Missouri. "We are going forward like we are playing because I really think we will be."
Kansas checked in at 40th in the latest RPI rankings, which should improve considering it beat No. 11 Texas A&M and tied No. 20 Missouri last week in the Big 12 Tournament.
Practice is already scheduled for Monday as Francis anticipated being chosen as one of up to six Big 12 representatives when the field is announced on ESPNews at 7 p.m. The team will watch the selection show together.
"It will be pretty interesting how we handle it," Dolinsky said of waiting to see if her season will continue. "We are just going to stay positive."