18th-Ranked Jayhawks Face Missouri State, Loyola-Chicago
Sept. 10, 2008
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
The Kansas soccer team will look to extend its four-match winning streak this weekend when it faces a pair of non-conference opponents. The Jayhawks (4-0) will travel to Missouri State on Friday for a 7 p.m. match before hosting Loyola-Chicago at 1 p.m. Sunday. The match against the Ramblers Sunday will be KU’s last at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex until Oct. 3.
Sunday’s match will feature reduced admission ($3) for fans who donate items for the “Just Food” drive, supported by Lawrence area food pantries. Youth soccer players who wear their uniforms also get in for $3 to celebrate Youth Soccer Month.
Live statistical updates for both matches will be available on Gametracker. Fans can find the link for Gametracker on the Kansas Athletic department’s official website: www.kuathletics.com.
Last Time Out
Freshman Kortney Clifton scored her third goal of the weekend, while junior goalkeeper Julie Hanley posted her second shutout of the season as 20th-ranked Kansas held off SMU, 1-0, in a non-conference soccer match played Sunday at Westcott Field. The Jayhawks improved to 4-0 for the first time since the 2004 season when they opened the year with six straight victories.
Scouting the Bears
Missouri State will be looking to get back on track after a loss and a tie at the Toys for Tots Tournament in St. Louis, Mo., last weekend. The Bears had won three straight prior to the loss to Army and scoreless tie with host Saint Louis.
The Bears, which return nine starters from last year’s team, have been stellar defensively this season, but have had their problems putting the ball in the net. MSU is led by junior Samantha Aguilar’s two goals this season. The junior midfielder scored the lone goal in the Bears’ 1-0 win over Southeast Missouri State on Aug. 29. Senior goalkeeper Jackie Jasper has posted four shutouts this season, and has a goal against average of 0.32. She has made 28 saves in 30 chances for a .933 save percentage.
Head Coach Rob Brewer is in his 13th year at Missouri State and has a record of 115-105-26 with the Bears, and 183-133-28 in 18-plus seasons as a head coach.
Jayhawk-Bear Connections
– Four Jayhawks (Erin Ellefson, Missy Geha, Geneva Magness and Sara Rogers) and two Bears (Jessica Teahan and Caroline Sweeney) attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park, Kan. Sweeney graduated the same year as Geha and Rogers, while Ellefson and Magness are a year older than Teahan. Teahan played for the same soccer club as Geha and KU seniors Stephanie Baugh and Kristin Graves – the KCFC Dynamos – however, they were never on the same teams.
– KU senior Kristin Graves, sophomore Rachel Morris and MSU sophomores Sarah Linsin and Shannon Russell all played soccer at Blue Valley West High School in Stilwell, Kan. Linsin played on the same club team – the KCFC Alliance Futuras – as KU’s Geneva Magness, Caitlin Noble and Morris.
– Jayhawk forward Shannon McCabe and Missouri State midfielder Jessica Smits both graduated from Jenks High School in Oklahoma the same year. Both girls were also teammates with the Tulsa Soccer Club `88.
– Jayhawk freshman Sierra Miramontez and Missouri State’s Meghan Cassady both attended Shawnee Mission West High School in Overland Park, Kan.
Scouting The Ramblers
Loyola-Chicago enters the Sunday tilt in Lawrence with a deceiving 2-4 record. The Ramblers earned victories over Xavier and DePaul this season, and suffered close defeats to No. 12 LSU, Michigan State, Marquette and Illinois State. The Ramblers host Northwestern Friday evening before traveling to the Jayhawk Soccer Complex Sunday.
Loyola returns seven starters from last year’s squad, which finished 14-9-1 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Junior forward Cynthia Morote-Ariza leads the Rambler offense with three goals and five assists (11 points), while four other players have at least one goal. Freshman goalkeeper Katie Groesch has started all six matches and has a 1.40 goals against average. She has made 19 saves in 27 chances for a .704 save percentage.
Head Coach Frank Mateus is in his fourth year at Loyola and has a 38-30-5 record with the Ramblers. Mateus is 49-51-5 in five-plus seasons as a head coach at the collegiate level.
Jayhawks-Ramblers Connections
– Kansas junior Estelle Johnson and Loyola sophomore Maggie Doe both played for the Fort Collins Arsenal, but played different years. They also attended rival high schools Rocky Mountain High School (Johnson) and Poudre High School (Doe).
– Loyola Kansas natives, juniors Selina Hunt (Derby, Kan.) and Becca Hughey (Manhattan, Kan.) will be playing their first collegiate matches in their home state this weekend.
Jayhawks Move Up in Polls
Following the Jayhawks’ pair of non-conference wins over the weekend, Kansas found itself up to No. 18 in the country in the Soccer Times weekly poll. The No. 18 ranking is KU’s highest since being ranked 16th in the country by Soccer Buzz at the end of the 2004 season.
Kortney Comes Aboard
Freshman forward Kortney Clifton enjoyed a productive weekend, scoring the first three goals of her collegiate career in the wins over UAB (Sept. 5) and SMU (Sept. 7).
The 5-foot-3 freshman, who set the Kansas high school record with 81 goals during her senior high school campaign, tallied a multi-goal contest against the Blazers. She and fellow freshman Emily Cressy became the first Jayhawks to record multiple goals in the same match since Monica Dolinsky and Jessica Bush turned the feat in 2006. She also scored the game-winning goal in Sunday’s 1-0 triumph over SMU.
Clifton is second on the team with seven points this season (three goals, one assist).
Freaky Friday
Fans were treated to a barrage of goals in the opening minutes of the Kansas-UAB match last Friday. Coach Francis even said “I thought fans were getting their money’s worth” of the wild first half. Here is a recap of the madness:
– UAB scored the contest’s first goal at 3:23. It marked the earliest the Jayhawks have surrendered a goal in a match since Duke’s Darby Kroyer scored 1:39 into a Sept. 10, 2006, match.
– Less than four minutes later, Monica Dolinsky tied the score with a penalty kick at 7:01. It was KU’s first successful PK since Oct. 7, 2005, when Emily Strinden scored against Oklahoma State.
– 31 seconds later, Kortney Clifton gave KU the lead with a goal at 7:32. The 31-second span between Jayhawk goals was the shortest since Lindsay Horner and Carmel Kaplinger scored 15 seconds apart against Iowa State on Sept. 29, 2000.
– Just under four minutes later, UAB tied the game again with Danya Barsalona’s penalty kick. This was the first time since a Sept. 28, 1997, match against Colorado that both Kansas and a KU opponent scored on a penalty kick in the same contest.
– Just over seven minutes later, freshman Emily Cressy scored the game-winning goal at 18:54. The five combined goals were the most in a single half since KU and Texas A&M combined for five goals in the second half of their Sept. 30 match last year.
– Cressy and Clifton would add goals in the second half for a 5-2 victory. The five goals by the Jayhawks are the most since a 5-0 win over Texas Tech on Oct. 1, 2004. Cressy and Clifton became the first KU freshmen to record multi-goal games in the same contest since Colleen Colvin and Christy Clark scored two goals each at Mississippi on Nov. 2, 1997.
– Senior Jessica Bush recorded assists on three of KU’s five goals, marking the first Jayhawk to tally three assists in a match since Hilla Rantala accomplished the feat on Oct. 30, 2001, against Saint Louis.
Cressy Earns National Honor
Kansas forward Emily Cressy has been named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week. It’s the second national weekly honor for the Jayhawk forward, who was named to the Soccer Buzz Team of the Week on Aug. 26. Cressy, a freshman from Ventura, Calif., scored two goals, including the game-winner, in KU’s 5-2 triumph over UAB last Friday. The 5-foot-5 forward is currently tied for the lead in the Big 12 with nine points and four goals in KU’s four matches.
Quick Kicks
– Kansas faces Missouri State in Springfield for the first time since the 2003 season. KU is 2-0 all-time at the Bears’ home field.
– The Jayhawks have also had success against members of the Missouri Valley Conference. KU is 15-5 all-time against Missouri Valley schools, including 12-1 under head coach Mark Francis.
– KU will meet Loyola-Chicago for the first time on the soccer field. The Jayhawks are 2-1 all-time against Horizon League members, with a pair of wins over UW-Milwaukee during the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
– Junior Monica Dolinsky tallied a goal and an assist over the weekend, scoring KU’s first goal against UAB via a penalty kick, and assisted on Kortney Clifton’s game-winning goal at SMU. Dolinsky has five points in KU’s first four matches of the season, keeping on pace with her freshman campaign when she scored six goals and collected five assists (17 points).
– Sophomore defender Katie Williams assisted on Emily Cressy’s first goal in the UAB match Sept. 5. It was the sophomore’s first career assist.
– Three Jayhawks, senior Stephanie Baugh and freshmen Sierra Miramontez and Jeannette Francia all played in their first match in the Crimson and Blue. Baugh’s 11-minute stint in net was her first playing time at either Kansas or West Virginia, where she was on the women’s soccer team for two seasons.
– Junior Julie Hanley posted her 11th career shutout in a Jayhawk uniform to move into second place by herself on KU’s all-time list. Hanley’s 11 shutouts are second to only Meghan Miller’s 28.
– Senior Jessica Bush recorded three assists against UAB to move into a fourth-place tie with Amy Geha and Melanie Schroeder with 17 career assists at KU. Bush needs seven more assists to tie KU record-holder Caroline Smith’s 24 career assists.
Up Next
Kansas will travel to sunny Florida for the final non-conference weekend of the regular season. The Jayhawks will take on UCF Friday at 6 p.m. (CDT) before facing the nationally ranked Gators at noon (CDT) on Sunday.
