Early Goals Doom Jayhawks, Fall to FC Kansas City 4-0
FC Kansas City 4, Kansas 0
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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The University of Kansas soccer team could not recover from two FC Kansas City goals within in the opening 10 minutes as the Jayhawks fell to the professional squad 4-0 inside Shawnee Mission North High School Stadium Saturday night. The loss moves KU to 4-2 in its spring exhibition season.
“We knew this would be tough game for us so I wasn’t as concerned with the result on the scoreboard,” said head coach Mark Francis. “The spring is all about getting better and playing this level of competition did just that. I thought we competed really well tonight and really liked our mentality throughout.”
FC Kansas City, which is preparing to open its inaugural season as part of the National Women’s Soccer League, wasted little time in putting in a goal as former Oklahoma star Renae Cuellar got FCKC on the board just three minutes into the match. Cuellar was able to get on the end of a cross into the box and flick it in passed the KU goalkeeper Caitlyn Stroud to give her team the early 1-0 lead.
Just seven minutes later another FC Kansas City cross into the KU box resulted in an own goal and the Jayhawks faced the tough task of trying to form a comeback against a seasoned professional squad.
After the own goal the KU defense settled down and began making it tough for the FCKC offensive attack. Kansas’ offense attack also settled in as the Jayhawks formed several scoring opportunities over the middle 20 minutes of the opening frame. Forward Caroline Kastor saw a prime opportunity after a KU free kick 25 yards from the FCKC goal. The junior managed to retrieve the pass into the box with a header that glanced off the opposing cross bar, giving the Jayhawks their best look at goal on the night.
In the 34th-minute Kansas was again struck with bad luck as a FCKC player was fouled in the KU box, resulting in a penalty kick, which the Blues’ Courtney Jones converted on, pushing the score to 3-0.
Six minutes in to the second period FC Kansas padded its lead after Casey Loyd put in an impressive strike from 30 yards out that glanced of the crossbar and in to give her team their fourth and final goal of the evening.
The Jayhawk goalkeeper Stroud had perhaps her best outing of the spring season. The junior tallied six saves on 13 FCKC shots and oversaw a KU defense that kept the Blues off the score sheet over the final 40 minutes of play.
Kansas was unable to solve the FCKC defense, as the Jayhawks were only able to manage three shots on the night. Freshman Courtney Dickerson put in the only shot on goal, a right-footed strike from just outside the seven yard box midway through the first half.
KU will now have two weeks to prepare for its next spring test, a double-header match on Saturday, April 13 in Lawrence. The Jayhawks will take on South Dakota State at 10 a.m. before returning to the pitch later that day for a 2 p.m. match with Drake. Get live updates and a recap from both matches by logging on to KUAthletics.com and following on twitter at KU_Soccer.
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