Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Team 'outplayed' in loss Kansas tries to recover from sweep to take on Texas. VOLLEYBALL | 3B
MONDAY,OCTOBER 12,2009
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DISAPPOINTING DISPLAY
Weston White/KANSAN
Senior cornerback Justin Thornton misses a tackle on Iowa State running back Alexander Robinson. Kansas gave up 512 total vards of offense against the Cyclones during Saturday's game.
Defensive weaknesses exposed
Saturday's conference opener against Iowa State sheds light on Kansas' problem areas
PAGE 1B
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenks@kansan.com
The other half sat with sullen eyes and grim words, relivin-
ing a nightmare that moments
before nearly cost Kansas its Big
12 opener against Iowa State.
In postgame interviews, half the room talked with liveliness, recounting big situations and game-changing plays. That half of the room discussed fallen records and career-bests from a productive day.
Follow Kansan writer Jayson Jenkens at twitter. jcom/JaysonJenkens
Kansas' offense turned in its
best performance of the season.
But the most eventful — and thoroughly disappointing — twist on Saturday dealt with a defense that was stripped and exposed for all the Big 12 to see. That it came at the hands of one of the conference's least potent offenses only made it worse.
Iowa State's offense slugged, pushed and simply dismantled Kansas' defense on Saturday —
and the layhawks did little to fight back.
"I see what's going on, and we've got to get this fixed or else we're just going to end up an average team," senior cornerback Justin Thornton said. "There's no way we're going to win the Big 12 North or beat some of these other teams in our league playing
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 4B
With Kansas' victory against Iowa State so split
COMMENTARY
— the offense played great, the defense struggled — The Kansan will spend two days analyzing the Jayhawks' conference opener. Today focuses on the defense's shaky performance. Tomorrow will look at a record-breaking outing by the offense.
Defense subpar against Iowa St.
It would be hard not to feel a bit schizophrenic after watching Kansas' 41-36 victory against Iowa State.
Unlike the defense, Kansas' offense put forth a virtuoso performance, almost to a man. Todd Reesing rarely had to use his famed scrambling ability; instead, he sat comfortably behind a seamless offensive line and picked apart Iowa State's defense. On the rare occasion that Reesing did have to move, he did so with the frenzied grace that has become his trademark, finding open receivers for big gains.
And there were open receivers. Two of them, Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier, seemed to be perpetually open. The two lacerated Iowa State's secondary, Briscoe primarily deep, and Meier more often underneath. But despite the varied methods, the success was the same. Briscoe nabbed 12 passes, only to be outdone by Meier's 16. Briscoe also set Kansas' all-time record in receiving yards, but Meier again came out on top in the game of one-upsmanship by setting a school record for career receptions and receptions in a single game.
Reeing, Meier and Briscoe are the glamor names on Kansas' offense and for good reason. But the collective performance of Kansas' offensive line shouldn't be overlooked on a record-setting day. Neither should the gutsy effort from Toben Opurum, who showed impossible polish in the passing game for a freshman.
SEE COLUMN ON PAGE 5B
SOCCER
Team trumps Texas Tech, beat by Buffalos
BY JOEL PETTERSON jpetterson@kansan.com
Despite finally getting its first conference victory, the Kansas soccer team didn't get exactly the weekend it hoped for. The team went 1-1 for its first big 12 games, defeating Texas Tech 3-2 on Friday before a frustrating 0-1 loss to Colorado Sunday.
Kansas now sits at 10th in the Big 12 standings after its 1-4 start to conference play. But coach Mark Francis remained optimistic after his team's play this weekend.
"If we continue to play like that, we're going to win more games than we lose," he said after Sunday's Colorado game.
It didn't look good for the Jayhawks after going down 0-1 in the first half after a goal from Lady Raider Dawn Ward. But the deficit only lit a fire under Kansas, which came out firing in the first minutes of the second half.
The team's play on Friday was enough to knock off Texas Tech (8-6-1 overall, 3-2-1 conference), which came into the game as the second-ranked team in the Big 12.
"We were all actually pretty pumped up to get it back and win the first conference game," freshman forward Whitney Berry said.
Seven minutes into the second half, Berry scored the equalizer.
drilling a shot from a difficult angle into the top of the goal. Seven minutes later, she added one more off a cross from junior Caitlin Noble that bounced around in front of the goal before Berry put it in from just a few yards out. Then, just three minutes later, in the 63rd minute, Berry played a ball into the penalty area to freshman Shelby Williamson, who slotted it into the goal for the team's third goal in 10 minutes.
Follow Kansan writer Joel Peterson at twitter. com/j_petter.
Texas Tech got one back in the 89th minute with a goal from freshman Connor Williams, but Kansas still finished with the victory, breaking its three-game Big 12 losing streak.
But frustration replaced relief when the team lost to the top team in the Big 12, Colorado (7-7 overall, 5-2 conference), on Sunday. The Jayhawks went down 1-0 in the first half after Colorado freshman Erin Bricker dribbed past the Kansas defense and finished with a low shot into the corner of the goal. The team never recovered.
"It's kind of a relief. It's about time," said Williamson.
Senior Shannon McCabe, last year's co-leading scorer for Kansas, played for the first time since the second game of the season on Friday after sitting out with a knee injury. McCabe came on as a substitute in both games, playing 31 minutes against Texas Tech and 37 against Colorado. Coach Francis said McCabe was still working to improve her fitness level to play more.
GAME NOTES
- Redshirt freshman Kat Liebetrau started in goal for Kansas in both games this weekend. Liebetrau started
Freshman Shelby Williamson tied redshirt sophomore Emily Cressy for most goals scored on the team with her game-winner against Texas Tech. Williamson now has six goals on the season, and the team record for goals by a freshmen is eight, held by both Cressy and Rachel Gilfilan, who had eight in 2001.
the first five games of the season before losing the starting spot to senior Julie Hanley for the next eight games. She had six saves against Texas Tech and one against Colorado.
"In the second half we came out on fire," said senior Monica Dolinsky. "We just got unlucky in front of the goal."
Unlucky seems a pretty accurate assessment of the second half, as Kansas outshot Colorado 14-2 in the period and hit the crossbar twice on shots from Berry and sophomore Emily Cressy.
Freshman midfielder Whitney Berry watches her shot sail into the net for a second half goal against Texas Tech Friday afternoon. The Jayhawks scored three straight goals to overcome an early 1-0 deficit to beat the Red Raiders 3-2.
Tanner Grubbs/KANSAN
The team members were frustrated after dropping their first home game of the season, but Francis stayed positive about his team's performance nonetheless.
"That's probably the best half of soccer we played all year," he said about the second period.
"When you play like we did, you can tell it feels coed," she said.
Dolinsky agreed that the players weren't too hard on themselves after the game.
Even with its 1-4 conference record, the team still has a 9-4-1 overall record and five games to play. Francis is keeping his players focused on their overall goal of doing well in the postseason.
"We can win the next five games."
ne said. "I think we're very capable of doing that. If we show up and play like this, we give ourselves a very good chance of winning."
Kansas goes on the road for the final time this season to face
Oklahoma on Friday and Bayton on Sunday.
- Edited by Brenna M. T. Daldorph