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THE UNIVERSITY HAIRY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2009
SPORTS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2009
3B
SOCCER
Kansas plays for final spot in Big 12 tournament
Season still under way after Senior Day victory against No.20 Missouri
BY JOEL PETTERSON jpetterson@kansan.com
A weekend of triumph followed by confusion resulted in the Kansas soccer team taking an early trip to San Antonio to play an unprecedented play-in game today for a Big 12 Tournament berth.
After an unforgettable 3-2 victory against No. 20 Missouri Friday on Senior Day, Kansas (12-7-1, 4-6 Big 12) ended in a three-way tie for seventh place in the Big
Senior defender Kim Boyer fights off a Missouri player in the Senior Day game against Missouri Friday. The Jayhawks won the game 3-2, placing them in a three-way tie for seventh place in the Big 12. Kansas will play Texas Tech today in a play-in game to determine which team gets the eighth and final spot in the Big 12 Tournament.
12 Conference standings with Baylor (8-5- 5, 3-4-3 Big 12) and Texas Tech (8-8.3, 3-4-3 Big 12). Only two teams could advance to the tournament and the conference announced that Baylor and
Kansas would advance because of a four-step tiebreaker.
"They made a mistake, and because of their mistake, we're still playing."
But Saturday afternoon the Big 12 reconsidered that ruling, saying in a statement that the rule to break the three-way tie was "open to interpretation and can be applied in different ways." So it ruled that Kansas and Texas Tech would participate in a play-in game Monday night in San Antonio to decide who would receive the eighth and final spot in the tournament. This is the first time such a play-in match has been used to determine entrance into the Big 12 Tournament.
Coach Mark Francis said he thought his team had been eliminated after Friday's results. According to Francis, the conference's initial decision was based on a misinterpretation of "goal differential," or the difference between the amount of goals a team scores and allows. The Big 12 only counted goals in games between the three teams in their initial ruling, whereas Texas Tech appealed that the goal differential should apply
Follow Joel Peterson at twitter.com/j_petter.
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
MARK FRANCIS Kansas coach
to the entire season.
"We shouldn't be playing right now," Francis said. "If they'd applied the goal differential properly, we would have been out. They made a mistake, and because of their mistake, we're still playing."
The ruling meant the Jayhawks had to leave for San Antonio early Sunday morning to prepare for today's game. Francis said his team handled the quick turnaround fine and was excited to still be playing.
Today's game will
Today's game will be a rematch of an Oct. 9 match that Kansas won 3-2 in Lawrence, Texas Tech is coming off a 200-minute scoreless streak against Big 12 powers Colorado and Texas A&M, while Kansas has won its last two games with Friday's victory and last Sunday's victory against lastplace Iowa State.
LOOKING BACK
The confusion about the tournament overshadowed Friday's gritty and memorable Senior Day upset against Missouri.
kickoff, the Tigers scored betore the Jayhawks could get possession of the ball. Missouri junior Alysha Bonnick finished a cross with one touch inside a crowded penalty area to put Kansas down 0-1 early. Francis said McCabe's injury affected the team's mindset.
Kansas couldn,
have gotten off to
much of a worse
start to what was
clearly a must-win
game for the team.
Before the match
even began, senior
forward Shannon
McCabe reinjured
her knee in pre-
game warm-ups.
"I think the girls were a little bit shell-shocked after that," he said. "Maybe that's why we were in such a daze at the beginning. I think we were still on the sideline feeling sorry for ourselves."
But the layhaws gathered themselves and responded in the 23rd minute. Sophomore forward Emily Cressy ran onto a well-placed passed from senior midfielder Monica Dolinsky and placed a shot past the goalkeeper at the near post.
Kansas kept its momentum going in the 38th minute when freshman midfielder Shelby Williamson dribbed through the midfield and hit a left-footed shot into the low corner of the net for a 2-1 Kansas lead that the team carried into half-time. It was the first time Missouri had trailed at the break since Oct. 2 against Texas.
and couldn't play in her last home game. Then, just 51 seconds after
"These are the types of games that you play for. These are the games that you remember forever."
ESTELLE JOHNSON Senior defender
During the second half, the game reached a frantic pace of play and referees struggled to control the intense physicality from both teams. In the second half alone, five yellow cards and 19 fouls were awarded to both teams. It was obvious that emotions were running high in a rivalry game that had
Kansas' playoff hopes and Missouri's undefeated season on the line.
"Every time we play Missouri our emotions are high, but especially so for the seniors this year," senior defender Estelle Johnson said.
in the 76th minute. Cressy came through again for the Jayhawks as she scored her 11th
goal of the season to give her team a 3-1 cushion. Johnson's free kick from midfield bounced around the penalty area before Cressy collected it in traffic and placed it in the net
"It was probably one of the best goals I've scored in my entire life," Cressy said.
narrowed the lead six minutes later when Missouri senior Michelle Collins scored off a rebound from Kansas goalkeeper Kat Liebetrau.
It also turned out to be an important one, as Missouri
Kansas desperately clung to the lead in the last seven minutes, packing in their own half and blocking Missouri's last efforts. The final whistle blew, and the Kansas bench rushed onto the field to celebrate
defeating the top team in the Big 12 and keeping their postseason hopes alive.
"I think these are the types of games that you play for," Johnson said. "These are the games that you remember forever."
Edited by Amanda Thompson
CROSS COUNTRY
Competition tough in Big 12 Championship
BY SAMANTHA ANDERSON
sanderson@kanasan.com
The women's cross country team earned its best finish in the Big 12 Championship in 15 years on Saturday in Columbia, Mo., placing fifth overall. The men's team faced some difficulties, but still managed to snag an eighth place finish.
Kansas faced tough competition, but the women never lost a step. They beat Baylor, a nationally ranked team in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association rankings. Three of the four teams that beat Kansas were also nationally ranked — Texas Tech, Colorado and Iowa State.
Senior Lauren Bonds finished first for the women in 10th place with a time of 21:46.52. Sophomore Rebeka Stowe finished second for Kansas. She ran a 22:35:07, finishing second for her team and placing 50 spots higher than last year. Behind her was sophomore Kara Windisch with a time of 22:53.19 and junior Amanda Miller with a time of 22.59.25 — good for 39th place.
"The level of competition on both men and women's side, nationally, is just tremendous for this conference," said assistant, coach Michael Whittlesey.
"I think we ran great," said Bonds. "We did everything we could have."
In the last scoring position was senior Kellie Schneider, who finished with a time of 23.03.85 and had one of her strongest races of the season.
"Kellie Schneider had just a tremendous race. Whittlesey said. "It was really a coming out party for her. She really bought into how good she could be and just competed extremely, extremely well."
place finish as last year. Three runners fell during the race.
"It was a tough race," sophomore Donny Wasinger said. "We came into today looking to kind of proves ourselves a little bit. It didn't probably go as well as we had all hoped or as we planned, but it's going to be a learning experience."
Wasinger finished first for the men, with a time of 26:00.82 in 38th place. Senior Bret Ingmorg and junior Dan Van Orsdel finished next for the Jayhawks with times of 26:03.15 and 26:23.33. Finishing out the scoring for the men were Junior Nick Caprario and sophomore Austin Bussing.
The men earned the same eighth
The men's and women's teams will compete in regionals Nov. 14 in Springfield, Mo.
Edited by Amanda Thompson
NBA
NBA Unbeaten Miami Heat defeats Chicago Bulls
Haslem's basket with 47.4 seconds left, off a pass from Wade, essentially sealed it for Miami, which survived a
Carlos Arroyo scored 12 points, Mario Chalmers added 11 and Michael Beasley overcame a 3-of-12 shooting night to finish with 10 points and 11 rebounds for Miami (3-0), which took the lead for good on a jumper by Wade with 3:01 remaining.
MIAMI — Dwyane Wade scored 25 points to push his career total to 10,005, reserve Udonis Haslem had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and the Miami Heat stayed unbeaten by downing the Chicago Bulls 95-87 on Sunday night.
Luoil Deng scored 26 points for Chicago (1-2),which got 17 points from John Salmons,11 from Brad Miller and 10 from Joakim Noah. Derrick Rose shot 4 of 15 and finished with eight points for the Bulls.
Wade made a free throw with 1:32 left in the third quarter for the 10,000th career point, the first player to score that many in a Heat uniform According to STATS LLC, among the other 42 active players on the list, only LeBron James and Allen Iverson have a higher scoring average than Wade, who reached the plateau in his 397th regularseason game.
wild fourth quarter. The teams alternated the lead seven times in the final 12 minutes, before Chicago missed its final six shots over the last 3:53.
The Heat won three of the four meetings with Chicago last season, each of those victories memorable in its own way.
New York ended a 1-4-1 skid that came on the heels of a seven-game winning streak, largely on the strength of their penalty-killing that was perfect in five chances.
NHL
With most New York sports fans focused on a pair of NFL games and the Yankees' World Series run, the Rangers returned home from a disappointing road trip in which they went 0-2 without Gaborik and beat the stingy Bruins.
The Rangers were outscored 6-3 in road losses to the New York Islanders and Minnesota Wild this week. Now they will try to make some noise during a three-game trip to Western Canada that begins Tuesday at Vancouver.
Boston continued alternating wins and losses, absorbing a
NHL New York Rangers defeat Boston Bruins 1-0 Sundav
NEW YORK — Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots for his 150th NHL victory and 21st career shutout, and Marian Gaborik returned from injury and scored for the fourth straight game as the New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins 1-0 on Sunday.
tough defeat one day after backup goalie Tuukka Rask shut out Edmonton at home.
Associated Press
Tim Thomas made 22 saves in his return. His only blemish was Gaborik's second-period goal that broke up the scoreless duel with Lundqvist.