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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
TUESDAY, APRIL 25. 2006
PAGE 1B
SOCCER
Holly Gault, junior defender, attempts to dribble past Blue Valley U-15's defender. Gault played with the U.S. Under-21 team in March. The Blue Valley Stars won the game 2-0.
Amanda Sellers/KANSAN
Amanda Sellers/KANSAN
Last game falls short
Jayhawks not up to par against boys team
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Sara Rogers, freshman forward, attempts to steal the ball from a Blue Valley Stars player at Moundville's game at the KU Sports complex. The Javhawkts to the Stars 2-0.
Just a few inches to the right
That was all Holly Gault would have needed to give the Jayhawks the lead against the Blue Valley Stars U-15 Boys team Monday night.
With less than 10 minutes left in the first half, Gault, who had just burned a Stars defender, received a pass from freshman Sara Rogers. Rogers' pass bounced over the defender's head, right in front of the streaking Gault, who had only the goalkeeper to beat. The junior collected the ball and dribbled next to the Stars' goalkeeper, who altered Gault's shot just enough to prevent Kansas from scoring.
Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, it was the closest they would come to scoring throughout the rest of the 2-0 loss. In the second half, the Stars dominated possession of the ball, but Kansas' defense did enough to keep their opponent from attacking the net for most of the game.
It was at the 11 minute mark that the Stars were finally able to put one between the posts. Stars forward
Kevin Madden scored easily in the center of the net while goalkeeper Julie Hanley was covering the Stars player who fed Madden the ball.
"We didn't play very good," Francis said. "This was not a great way to end the season."
Seven minutes later, the Stars scored another goal, in a game that Kansas coach Mark Francis said was not the team's best.
Although Kansas may have played less than par in their last two matches, which were both against U-15 boys teams, Francis said he was pleased with its effort as a whole this spring.
"Overall, the season's been good. The girls have worked really hard, and made strides on the field." Francis said. "Our team defense is better, and offensively everyone is on the same page."
Against Yale, Kansas had its best offensive output of the season, winning 7-2. Led by Gault's five goals and two more from junior Lacey Novak, the Jayhawks defeated a Yale team that had reached the NCAA Sweet 16 during the fall season.
Francis said the Jayhawks' best performances were against Yale and the Canadian National Team.
Hanley was the star of the show against Canada, when Kansas held the Canadians scoreless for nearly the entire game before falling 1-0. Hanley stopped a Canadian offense that was attacking for most of the game before allowing a goal on a penalty kick. The Jayhawks played Canada closer than any other team on the Canadians' college exhibition tour.
With its season over, Kansas will have four months off before it will be allowed to practice again for the regular season in the fall. For the upcoming season, the Jayhawks will welcome six freshman and will have a tentative schedule that will include tournaments in California and Alabama.
— Edited by Gabriella Souza
Kansas plays Midwest's best
BASEBALL
Senior outfielder Gus Milner takes a swing against Kansas State on Saturday in Manhattan. Miller and the Jayhawks take on the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks at 3 p.m. today in Kansas City, Kan., at the Best of the Midwest Tournament.
Kansan file photo
BY ALISSA BAUER
abauer@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Kansas played 21 non-conference games before the Big 12 Conference schedule began with a three-game set against Baylor in mid-March.
But the Jayhawks won't let a minor detail like the grueling home stretch of their conference schedule deter them from putting more on their plates.
"At this point in time, we've got our RPI right around the top 40 in the county," coach Ritch Price said. "Those midweek games are the reason we keep moving up."
has interrupted its conference groove to take on non-conference, RPI-boosting opponents.
This afternoon, Kansas will kick off the Best of the Midwest Tournament at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan. The first game of the five-game tournament will be the Jayhawks' 3 p.m. match-up against the Redhawks of Southeast Missouri State.
"It's a tough week for us because of the 3 o'clock games in the afternoon, which makes it tough on the kids academically," Price said.
Despite the games' importance to maintaining their high RPI-ranking. Price said he
Although the frequent breaks in Big 12 action have hardly bothered the Jayhawks — they've only lost one midweek game this season — the Best of the Midwest plays out differently than the normal schedule.
Today and Wednesday's midweek games will mark the fifth straight week that Kansas
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 8B
LIFE OF BRIAN
Schedule to hamper Jayhawks
BRIAN WACKER
bwacker@kansan.com
But before you start scraping your cash together for a plane ticket to the Fiesta Bowl, take a look at next year's team and its schedule and you'll probably come to the same conclusion I did: This is a team that will be lucky to break 500.
Kerry Meier's four-touchdown performance in the annual Spring Game was exciting, especially considering the Jayhawks had a grand total of 15 passing touchdowns all of last year.
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The defense — and in particular, the rushing defense — was Kansas' bread and butter last year. Led by Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Nick Reid, the D allowed less than 1,000 yards of rushing and only eight rushing touchdowns in 12 games. It would have been even less than that had Kansas not played Texas, which gained 336 yards on the ground and scored four rushing touchdowns.
But the anchors of that defense — Reid, Kevin Kane, Banks Floodman, Charlton Keith, Charles Gordon and Theo Baines — have all played their last games at Memorial Stadium. Without a returning starting linebacker or half of its secondary, it's implausible to believe that Kansas will even come close to matching last season's defensive output.
The changes on offense and defense should ultimately result in a wash if Meier is able to live up the early hype.
Other tough tests will come at home against Colorado, which always plays Kansas well, Texas A&M, a team looking to prove itself legitimate after a disastrous 2005 season, and tough road games at Iowa State and Missouri, which will want to avenge three straight losses to Kansas. The remaining three games are at Baylor and at home against Oklahoma State and Kansas State. Those are games that Kansas should win, but as the Jayhawks proved against the Wildcats last season in Manhattan, the better team doesn't always come out on top.
Without its defense playing at such a high level, Kansas could have easily gone 2-9 last season. That's because the offense was an embarrassment. Whether it was terrible play-calling and personnel decisions by the coaching staff or underachieving, not-talented-enough players, the Kansas offense consistently produced inconsistency. With the emergence of Meier as at least a serviceable quarterback, it looks like the offense will show improvement. But really, anything is an improvement, compared to last year's musical chair act that played out behind center.
My prediction is that Kansas will finish the season the season at 6-6, just enough to return to the Fort Worth Bowl and beat an equally average opponent from an inferior conference.
Jayhawk fans will and should feel happy with a 3-1 record going into Big 12 Conference play, which won't offer any free lunches next season. The Big 12 North's stock is rising with Nebraska, which the Jayhawks face in Lincoln, bringing in its second top-rated recruiting class in a row and still glowing from its upset of Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. Did anyone really think the 'Huskers would stay down for long?
Look, there are literally thousands of things that could happen between now and the beginning of football season that could change the way Jayhawk fans look at next year's season. Nebraska quarterback Zak Taylor may go down with an injury. Missouri's athletics department may decide to scrap funding for its football team to cover its legal bills. Nick Reid may find a discrepancy on his ARTS Form and discover he still has another year of eligibility.
But the biggest reason Kansas won't improve upon last season's record is the schedule. First look at the non-conference schedule, which features early tests from big name teams. After two cupcakes against Northwestern State and Louisiana Monroe, the Jayhawks will go on the road to Toledo for a nationally-televised match-up, against a team that won the GMAC Bowl (comparable to the Fort Worth Bowl) and that will already have been battle-tested by an opening game against fellow Big 12 North chum Iowa State. The following week, the Bulls of South Florida will storm into Lawrence. The Bulls lost to N.C. State in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on New Year's Eve last season. But they are no strangers to playing tough non-conference games on the road. South Florida lost at Penn State by 10 points and at No. 9 Miami last season.
Bur right now, with the players that Kansas is bringing back and the tougher pre-conference schedule, it doesn't look like Jayhawk football will be moving forward next season.
Y
It's hard to when you're stuck in neutral
Wacker is a Chesterfield, Mo., senior in journalism. He is kansan.com editor.
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