Jayhawks Play to Pair of Draws Saturday in Iowa
April 20, 2013
AMES, IOWA – The University of Kansas soccer team continued its spring exhibition season Saturday as it took on Iowa State and Iowa Saturday afternoon inside ISU Soccer Complex. Both matches ended in ties, as the Jayhawks and Cyclones played to a 0-0 tie, while KU managed to earn a 2-2 draw with the Hawkeyes.
“I was pleased with several things today,” said head coach Mark Francis. “I thought we played really well in the second game. We spread the field and really created some great scoring chances. That was nice to see since we’ve been working on that a lot this spring.”
KU, which has taken on Iowa each of the last three spring seasons, could not get its offense going in the early match. The Jayhawks’ best opportunity came in the opening period when junior Caroline Kastor beat her defender and found herself open on the left side of the ISU box. She was able to get a good strike on goal however the Cyclones’ goalkeeper was there for the save.
Neither of the Big 12 foes created any other major threats for the remainder of the game, leaving the score deadlocked at zero, where it eventually ended.
In their second outing of the day, the Jayhawks picked up the pace offensively. Kastor netted KU’s first score of the day in the first half with the help of an assist from senior teammate Sarah Robbins. The KU defense couldn’t handle the Iowa attack in the latter half of the opening frame though as the Hawkeyes notched a pair of goals to go up 2-1 as the teams went into halftime.
Kansas kept it close, shutting out Iowa in the second half and pulling even with less than 15 minutes to play. Kastor put in her second score of the afternoon after sophomore Jamie Fletcher set her up with an assist. The KU defense kept the Hawkeyes off the board for the rest of the match and preserved the 2-2 tie, leaving the state of Iowa boasting a 6-2-2 record in the spring.
The Jayhawks now enter their final week of the spring campaign and will prepare to close out exhibition play next weekend on a high note.
“It will be really important for us to end the spring strong,” said Francis. “It’s been a long spring with the addition of our international trip but the girls have remained focused and that’s very encouraging. We’ll try to show up next Saturday and have a good end with a couple wins.”
KU will return to Lawrence to take on UMKC and Arkansas next Saturday, April 27at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. Kickoff versus the Kangaroos is slated for 10 a.m., while the Jayhawks will hit the pitch versus the Razorbacks at 2 p.m. Get a complete recap and updates from both matches by logging on to KUAthletics.com and following on Twitter at KU_Soccer.
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