Kansas Soccer Blows Past Baylor 3-0
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Junior forward Caroline Smith scored two goals and added an assist to lead the University of Kansas soccer team to a 3-0 victory over Baylor on Sunday at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. The win improves the Jayhawks overall record to 11-2-0 and their Big 12 mark to 3-1 this season, while Baylor dropped to 4-6-1 and 1-3 in Big 12 play.
Kansas got on the board early in the match, as senior midfielder Amy Geha drove down the field and slipped a pass to Smith in the corner. Smith crossed a pass over to sophomore Jessica Kilpatrick, who fired the ball into an open net for her first tally of the season. Kansas senior goalkeeper Meghan Miller was tested in the closing minutes of the first half, as she made two saves to protect the 1-0 lead.
Baylor came out in the beginning of the second half and applied pressure on KU, but was turned away by the Jayhawk defense and Miller, who made a pair of spectacular saves during the final period. The shutout was the
Big 12-leading eighth of the season for Miller, who also increased her school-record for career shutouts to 27.
Smith and the Jayhawks added the final two goals of the day in the game’s 81st minute. At the 81:03 mark, Smith was able to convert on a pass from Geha for her fifth goal of the season. The assist was the second of the game for Geha, for her first career two-assist game. Just 48 seconds later, KU collected its third tally. Junior forward Jessica Smith drove in one-on-one with Baylor goalkeeper Ashley Holder, who took out Smith and was issued a red card. Caroline Smith was elected to take the penalty kick, the first of the season for the Jayhawks, and beat Baylor’s goalkeeper Kristin Weegar.
“I thought we played really well in the first half,” head coach Mark Francis said. “We came out in the second half and looked flat. We have to be able to come out and bury teams. The positive thing is that we didn’t play well in the second half and we still won 3-0.”
The two-goal performance was the first multiple goal game of the season for Smith who took over the team-lead in goals (6), assists (5) and points (17). The Edina, Minn., native has collected three goals and eight points in her last two games.
On Friday, Kansas soccer will take the road to battle Border War rival Missouri, in Columbia, Mo., at 7 p.m.
