No. 22 Kansas Soccer Routs No. 18 San Diego, 5-0
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Senior midfielder Monica Dolinsky reached a Kansas milestone with two assists Friday, while five of her teammates tallied goals as the 22nd-ranked Jayhawks shut out No. 18 San Diego, 5-0, on the first day of the Jayhawk Invite Friday at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
Kansas, which posted its largest win ever over a ranked opponent Friday, improves to 6-1-1 overall, while the Toreros fall to 5-3-1.
Dolinsky, a senior midfielder from Carmel, Ind., recorded two assists in the match to break the school record for career assists with 25. She currently leads the team with five assists on the season and was tied for fifth in the Big 12 in the category prior to Friday’s match.
After going through a winless weekend for the first time this season, Kansas came out firing on all cylinders Friday.
First, Emily Cressy put home her team-leading fifth goal of the season on a play started by freshman Whitney Berry on the near side of the box. Berry sent a high-arching pass to the top of the box, where Dolinsky deflected the ball ahead to Cressy, who blasted home what proved to be her third game-winning goal of the season in the ninth minute.
Then, freshman Shelby Williamson cornered a loose ball at the top of the box following a corner kick, and lifted a shot just over the outstretched hands of San Diego goalkeeper Courtney Parsons to give KU a 2-0 lead just before the halftime intermission.
The rout continued in the second half, as junior Caitlin Noble scored her first goal in a Kansas uniform in the 65th minute, on a pass from Dolinsky. With heavy traffic in from of her, Dolinsky crossed the ball from the far sideline to the near corner of the net, where Noble tapped it in for her first goal of the season.
Less than three minutes later, junior Lauren Jackson got into the act, outracing the Toreros back down the field following a corner kick. With USD trailing by three, the Toreros tried to put extra bodies in the attacking third. However, Jackson took control of the ball at the top of the Kansas box and raced the length of the field before lofting a shot over the goalkeeper, who had come out to play the ball.
Junior Rachel Morris finished the scoring with a blast from 30 yards out in the 84th minute on a feed from Sierra Miramontez. The five Jayhawk goals were a season-high.
Kansas received stellar goalkeeping from senior Julie Hanley, who made four saves, and got a little luck. Two San Diego shots in the first half hit the crossbar, while senior Estelle Johnson was credited with a team save in the second half.
The shutout of San Diego was KU’s fourth of the year, and third of a Top 25 team the last two seasons.
The Jayhawks will face South Dakota State in the final match of the Jayhawk Invitational Sunday at 1 p.m. Earlier in the day, the Jackrabbits tied Missouri State, 0-0, in the first match of the invitational.
Postgame Quotes
No. 22 Kansas 5, No. 18 San Diego 0
Sept. 18, 2009
Kansas head coach Mark Francis:
On the statement of a 5-0 win over a Top 25 team:
“I told the team before the game that this was our last non-conference weekend, and we had the opportunity for you to send a message to the rest of the conference that we’re for real. I think after last weekend, it was disappointing. Today, we showed up ready to play. When you do that, you have the opportunity to beat anybody. We just have to be consistent with that.”
On what he was most impressed with:
“There was a 15-minute period after we scored the second goal where I thought they were all over us. I thought we kind of lost our composure for a little bit. But other than that, I thought we controlled the game. Our speed of play was much better than it has been. Defensively, I thought our backs and our goalkeeper (Julie Hanley), played really well. We kept a very dangerous team off the board today. The depth of our team really showed today too. We have six kids out right now (with injuries), but there were kids today that gave us minutes and did really well. Even at 3-0 and 4-0, we were still chasing them.”
On what this win means heading into Big 12 play next weekend:
“It’s huge. What the team realizes after this is that if we show up like we did today, ready to play, we can compete with anybody on our schedule. If we don’t show up ready to play, we saw what can happen last Friday. When we show up to play, we’re pretty good; when we don’t we’re average. Hopefully we’ll be pretty good more than we’re average.”
