Kansas Offense Comes Alive in 4-0 Win at Iowa State
AMES, Iowa – Four goals by four different Jayhawks helped propel Kansas to a 4-0 win over Iowa State Sunday afternoon inside the Cyclone Sports Complex. Senior Liana Salazar netted the 25th goal of her career and added a pair of assists, junior Jackie Georgoulis headed home her first goal as a Jayhawk and the freshman duo of Grace Hagan and Parker Roberts tallied their fourth and second goals, respectively.
The win moved Kansas to 6-5-1 on the year and 1-1-0 in Big 12 play. Iowa State fell to 5-8-0 in its 2015 campaign and 0-4-0 in conference.
“I thought we played really well today,” said head coach Mark Francis. “The thing I was more pleased about though was that, we not only played well, but we converted our chances, which we haven’t necessarily been doing recently. The team has been working really hard. We had a lot of people score today which is something that is really encouraging. Today was a good result for us. We really needed it.”
It took the Jayhawks almost 30 minutes to get their handle on the match, but when they did, the flood gates opened. Just before the half-hour mark, Kansas broke open the scoring with the help of some great passing inside the ISU penalty box. Junior Hanna Kallmaier got the attack started by laying off a pass to Salazar at the top of 18-yard area. Salazar then used one touch to redirect a pass to Roberts, who was streaking through the middle of the box. Roberts slid but got a boot on it and sent it in for her second goal of the season.
KU needed only two more minutes to strike for its second goal of the day. Salazar sent in a high, curling corner kick toward the near post, where Georgoulis had taken up residence. The junior out of Arlington Heights, Illinois rose above the crowd and headed the ball to the back of the Cyclone net. The goal was the first of Georgoulis’ career and gave her team a commanding 2-0 lead, still with 14 minutes to play in the first half.
It took just 12 minutes into the second half for the Jayhawks to put in their third goal of the match. Ashley Williams gained possession near the left side of the ISU box and found space, where she dribbled toward the near post. Williams played a low pass across the face of goal to the far post. Hagan was there, unmarked, and slotted home her fourth goal of the season, and her second in as many games.
After two earlier assists, Salazar joined the scoring action in the 68th minute. Roberts was fouled just outside the Iowa State 18-yard box, and Salazar was the one chosen to take the Jayhawk free kick. The senior used a strong right-footed strike to curl the ball away from the ISU keeper but kept it inside the left post. The goal was Salazar’s fourth of the year and the 25th of her KU career.
With her goal and two assists in the match, Salazar became the fourth Jayhawk in program history to amass at least 25 goals and 10 assists in a career.
The Jayhawks completed the shutout victory 20 minutes later for their first Big 12 victory of the year. The 4-0 victory marked KU’s largest margin of victory in league play since Oct. 23, 2011 when KU dispatched of Iowa State 6-1, also in Ames.
The score line wasn’t the only part of the stat sheet the Jayhawks dominated. KU notched 22 shots to Iowa State’s 12 as eight different KU players tallied at least one shot. Roberts led the squad with five shots. KU also posted a season-high 14 shots on goal, with Williams, Salazar and Kallmaier all added three apiece.
Sophomore goalkeeper Maddie Dobyns and the Kansas defense earned its third shutout of the season. Dobyns added four saves in the 90 minutes between the post.
Kansas will now return to the friendly confines of Rock Chalk Park on Friday, Oct. 9, to take on the Baylor Bears. KU and BU will hit the pitch for a 7 p.m. kickoff, which will be available via webcast on KU Athletics’ YouTube channel.
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