McCabe, Jayhawks Blitz Francis Marion, 7-0
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Junior Shannon McCabe tied a school record with three goals and an assist, while junior Monica Dolinsky and freshman Emily Cressy were each involved in multiple scoring plays as the Kansas soccer team set a school record with seven goals in 7-0 victory over Francis Marion Sunday at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
The Jayhawks improve to 10-5-1 overall, while the Patriots fall to 2-12-1. Kansas picks up its first two-win weekend since the third week of the regular season, when it swept matches against UAB and SMU.
Kansas dominated nearly the entire 90 minutes, outshooting the visitors, 34-4. However, the afternoon belonged to McCabe.
The junior forward from Tulsa, Okla., became the first Kansas player to record a hat trick since Jessica Smith tallied three goals in a 2005 match against Oklahoma State. Her seven points Sunday also matched Caroline Smith’s school record, which she set against Northwestern on Aug. 29, 2003.
McCabe scored back-to-back goals in the first half to give KU a 2-0 advantage at the break. In the 25th minute, the junior laced a shot from the near corner of the box that bent over the keeper’s head and into the upper corner on the far side of the net. Dolinsky was credited with an assist on the play.
Just over three minutes later, the Tulsa native struck again. This time, off a Jayhawk corner kick from the far side of the field, McCabe bent a ball to the near post that snuck over the line despite a last ditch effort by a Patriot defender to clear.
McCabe completed her hat trick – the first multi-goal match of her career – by cleaning up a rebound in the 54th minute off a Jessica Bush shot. Bush blasted a ball to the far post that Francis Marion goalkeeper Emily Brandenburg could only deflect onto the foot of an onrushing McCabe. It was the junior’s career-high sixth goal of the season.
However, leading 4-0, the Jayhawks weren’t finished. KU scored three goals over a four minute span to complete the most prolific offensive day in school history. Freshman Kortney Clifton scored the Jayhawks’ fifth goal after McCabe played a through-ball to her from the middle of the field. The freshman forward chipped a shot over the keeper from 12 yards out for her fourth goal of the season.
Less than a minute later, Dolinsky converted a Francis Marion turnover into her team-leading seventh goal of the season with a laser from 25 yards out in the middle of the field.
Finally, sophomore Erin Ellefson’s blast from the far corner of the box following a KU corner kick put the wraps on a seven-goal day for the Jayhawks. Cressy – who scored the team’s first goal of the season half – played the ball short to Ellefson who fired a shot from 16 yards away for the first goal of her collegiate career.
The Jayhawks set several offensive records in Sunday’s contest. The five second-half goals were the most by a KU team in either half, while the 7-0 margin of victory was also the most in team history.
KU attempted 34 shots, which tied for the second-most in school history. Dolinsky led the way with six shots, including four on net.
Francis Marion’s Rachel Rubin and Kristi Caldwell each put shots on net.
The Jayhawk goalkeeping tandem of junior Julie Hanley and senior Stephanie Baugh made a total of two saves to earn the team’s fifth shutout of the season, and second in a row. It was the first time KU has blanked consecutive opponents since Oct. 19-21 of last season.
Unbeaten in its last three matches, KU will look to keep the momentum going with a Big 12 match against nationally ranked Texas Friday at 3 p.m. at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
