Kansas Opens Conference Play at Oklahoma State

Sept. 22, 2009

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Complete Release in PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

Morris Interview 9-22

Coach Francis Weekend Preview 9-24

After earning a pair of shutout wins at the Jayhawk Invitational, the Kansas Jayhawks will open their Big 12 schedule this weekend, before completing non-conference play on Sunday. Kansas, ranked 17th in the latest Soccer Times poll, will face Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex on Friday. KU then faces Oral Roberts on Sunday at 1 p.m., in the team’s final non-league game of the regular season.

Statistical updates from both matches will be available via Gametracker, which is produced by CBS College Sports. The link for Gametracker is available on the KUAthletics.com web site.

About The Jayhawks

At 7-1-1, Kansas is off to its best start since 2004, when the Jayhawks opened the season at 8-1. KU defeated then-No. 18 San Diego (5-0) and South Dakota State (4-0) over the weekend to win the Jayhawk Invitational.

The Jayhawks have featured a very balanced offensive attack as 10 different players have scored goals, while 13 different Jayhawks have points. Sophomore Emily Cressyleads the team with five goals and 13 points, while senior Monica Dolinsky has a team-high five assists. Defensively, KU has held its opposition to an 0.56 goals against average and has posted five shutouts.

Scouting the Cowgirls

Oklahoma State will host Kansas looking to even its Big 12 record after falling to Colorado in its conference season opener. Since falling to the Buffaloes on Aug. 22, the Cowgirls have gone 6-2 and outscored their opposition, 22-4.

The Cowgirls are averaging 2.44 goals per match, and have attempted 17.9 shots per match. Senior Sierra Strawser, junior Annika Niemeier and freshman Megan Marchesano lead the team with four goals a piece, while Strawser’s 10 points are tops on the team. Freshman Adrianna Franch has seen the most time in net, and has posted an 0.46 goals against average, an .818 save percentage and four shutouts.

Kansas holds a 7-5-3 edge in the all-time series, but is winless in its last four matches against Oklahoma State, including a heart-breaking 3-2 overtime defeat in 2008.

Jayhawk-Cowgirl Connections

  • Kansas senior Shannon McCabe is a native of Tulsa, Okla., and attended Jenks High School with Oklahoma State’s Sarah Brown, Andrea Carlson and Allyson Leggett. It is presumed that all four of them would have been teammates at some point.
  • McCabe was also teammates with Oklahoma State’s Siera Strawser at the Oklahoma ODP level.
  • Kansas freshman Amy Grow and Oklahoma State’s Allison Farrell both grew up in Edmond, Okla., and were both products of the Edmond Soccer Club.
  • Grow played on Oklahoma’s ’91 ODP squad with OSU freshmen Andrea Carlson and Megan Marchesano.
  • Kansas freshman Nicole Chrisopulos and Oklahoma State freshman Alicia Gray were teammates with the Dallas Texans ’91 club team.
  • Chrisopulos and OSU junior Whitney Wernimont were teammates at Rowlett High School in Rowlett, Texas.

scouting the Golden Eagles

Oral Roberts enters the weekend at 3-4, but has won two of its three matches at home this season. The Golden Eagles dropped matches at Missouri State and at Tulsa last weekend.

ORU is averaging 1.0 goals per match and has taken 13.1 shots per match this season. Five different Eagles have scored the team’s seven goals with senior Natalya Manyan leading the way with two. Sophomore Anna Bickers is tops on the team with a pair of assists this season. In goal, sophomore Amanda Wheeler has received a bulk of the playing time, and posted a 1.83 goals against average, and a .686 save percentage in six starts.

This will be the first meeting between the schools on the soccer field since 1996, when ORU defeated KU, 2-0 in Tulsa. The Golden Eagles lead the all-time series, 3-0 against Kansas. The Jayhawks are 3-3 all-time against current members of the Summit League, including a 4-0 win over South Dakota State last Sunday.

Jayhawk-Golden Eagle Connections

  • Kansas freshman Amy Grow and Oral Roberts freshman Lauren Parks both grew up in Edmond, Okla., and were teammates with the Edmond Soccer Club ’91.

Milestone for Monica

Senior midfielder Monica Dolinskyrecorded two assists in KU’s win over San Diego on Sept. 18 to give her a new career record. Dolinsky’s 25 career assists move her into first place in the school record books, surpassing Caroline Smith, who had 24 assists from 2002-05.

Since the beginning of the 2008 season, Dolinsky has become more of a playmaker for the Jayhawk offense than strictly a goal-scorer. The senior has 15 of her 25 career assists over the last two years, including three multi-assist contests.

More of Morris

Junior forward Rachel Morris enjoyed her most productive weekend in a Kansas uniform at the Jayhawk Invitational. Morris scored three goals and added an assist in KU’s matches against then-No. 18 San Diego and South Dakota State.

Morris recorded her first goal of the season on Sept. 18 against the Toreros, and then collected five points (two goals, one assist) against South Dakota State. Her five-point match was the most productive by a Jayhawk this season. She was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com’s National Team of the Week.

Her first goal Sunday, just 23 seconds into the match, was the fastest in Jayhawk history.

Wonder Wall

Since returning to the starting lineup, senior goalkeeper Julie Hanleyhas been a wall behind the Kansas backfield. Hanley has started KU’s last three matches and has recorded two shutouts and allowed just two goals in just over 412 minutes.

Hanley has not allowed a goal in her last 282 minutes in net, including shutouts at Colorado College and against then-No. 18 San Diego. The senior has 16 career shutouts, which ranks second in Kansas history.

Corner Kicks

  • Kansas will face Oklahoma State in its first conference match of the season Friday in Stillwater. Each of the teams’ previous three regular season meetings have gone into overtime, with the Cowgirls winning two of them.
  • Kansas has not won in Stillwater, Okla., since 2004 when the Jayhawks posted a 1-0 win en route to a Big 12 regular season title.
  • The Jayhawks will face Oral Roberts Sunday in their final non-conference game of the season. Over the past two years, KU is 14-3-1 against non-Big 12 foes.
  • Sophomore forward Emily Cressy recorded her team-leading fifth goal of the season against San Diego on Sept. 18, which proved to be the game-winner. Of Cressy’s 13 career goals, seven of them have been game-winning tallies.
  • Three different Jayhawks, juniors Caitlin Noble, Lauren Jackson and Rachel Morris, all collected their first goals of the season against San Diego on Sept. 18. Senior Estelle Johnson also scored her first goal of 2009 two days later against South Dakota State.
  • The 5-0 Kansas win over 18th-ranked San Diego was the largest margin of victory over a Top 25 team in KU history.
  • Five Kansas players were named to the Jayhawk Invitational All-Tournament team. Seniors Julie Hanley, Estelle Johnson and Monica Dolinsky, and juniors Rachel Morris and Lauren Jackson were honored on the 12-member team which was voted on by the participating coaches. Morris and Johnson were also named the Most Outstanding Offensive and Defensive players of the tournament
  • Morris scored two goals and added an assist against South Dakota State on Sept. 20, including the fastest goal in KU history. Morris tallied the Jayhawks’ first goal just 23 seconds into the match, surpassing the previous record, which was 35 seconds, set by Erin Hon during a 1998 match against Western Illinois.
  • Fast starts have become the norm for Kansas this season. KU has scored first in eight of the team’s nine matches this season, and outscored its opposition 11-2 in the first half of games.

Up Next
After a weekend in Oklahoma, the Jayhawks will continue conference play in the Lone Star State with matches against No. 10 Texas A&M and Texas. The Jayhawks will meet the Aggies on Friday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. in College Station, before taking on the Longhorns in Austin on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 1 p.m.