KU Offense Comes Alive as Jayhawks Trounce Cyclones, 4-1
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Senior Whitney Berry earned a goal and an assist while three other Jayhawks got into the scoring column as Kansas soccer took down the Iowa State Cyclones, 4-1 Friday afternoon inside the Jayhawks Soccer Complex.
With the win, Kansas improves to 9-6-2 this season and now boasts a 3-4 record in Big 12 play. Iowa State falls to 10-8 on the year and 1-5 in the conference.
After Kansas was shutout in its two previous matches last weekend, the Jayhawk offense returned with a vengeance Friday on a cold and blustery day in Lawrence. KU used an aggressive offensive scheme to earn it a 13-4 shot advantage through the first 60 minutes of the match, which included a season-high four goals. The unrelenting style helped Kansas amass a 4-0 lead with just 20 minutes remaining, eventually giving it a 4-1 victory and its most lopsided conference win of the season.
Forward Courtney Dickerson got the Jayhawks on the board in the 27th minute after she was found on the end of an Amy Grow through ball down the center of the field. Dickerson caught up to the pass 15 yards from the ISU net and slipped it past Cyclone goalkeeper Maddie Jobe to put the Jayhawks on top, 1-0.
The score was the third of the freshman, Dickerson’s, season and gave Grow her fourth assist of 2012.
Less than three minutes later Kansas struck again, this time via the Jayhawks’ leading scorer Caroline Kastor. The Wichita, Kan., native found the back of the opponent’s net for the 10th time this season after her left-footed shot from inside the right corner of the ISU penalty box sailed just out of the reach of the Cyclone keeper, Jobe. The goal quickly gave her team a 2-0 advantage just 30 minutes into the match.
Kansas ended the opening period with a dominating 6-0 lead in shots on goal as five different Jayhawks got shots off in the opening 45 minutes.
KU stayed aggressive after the intermission and continued to make life hard on the ISU defense, which had only allowed six goals in its previous six outings.
Just over five minutes into the second half Berry was pulled down in the ISU box, resulting in a foul and KU penalty kick. Berry, who had failed to convert on a PK earlier in the match, made no mistakes on this one, striking home her fifth of the season and putting the Jayhawks up 3-0. Kansas has now successfully converted three penalty kicks on four attempts this year.
Berry was involved on the Jayhawks’ fourth goal as well, setting up fellow senior Nicole Chrisopulos for her first score of the season. Berry slid through the ISU defense and found the Rowlett, Texas native on the right side of the Cyclone box. Chrispulos then used some fancy footwork and a left-footed strike to put in the Jayhawk’s final goal of the day. The goal was the first of Chrisopulos’ career and all but sealed the victory for Kansas.
With the goal and the assist, Berry added three points to her season total which now sits at 17. She has also collected 76 points in her KU career which ties her with Monica Dolinsky (2006-09) for second on the all-time KU points list.
The Cyclones managed to get on the board in the 75th minute when the Big 12’s goals and points leader, junior Jennifer Dominguez, headed in a ball after an ISU corner kick. By that time, however, the damage had already been done as the Jayhawks closed out the 4-1 victory.
Senior Kat Liebetrau earned her 10th start at goalkeeper for the Jayhawks and collected three saves in 90 minutes of play. Liebetrau now sits at 6-2-2 in goal for KU.
Berry led Kansas with six shots on the day, with three of them being on frame. It was a team effort however, as the Jayhawks had four different goal scorers in a match for the first time this year with an additional three entering the shots column.
Kansas will return to the pitch Sunday when it plays host to the Texas Tech Red Raiders at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. The match, which will mark the final regular season Big 12 matchup for KU this season, will kickoff at 1 p.m., and can be seen on AT&T Jayhawk All-Access or followed on twitter at KU_Soccer.
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