Jayhawks shut out Texas Tech, 3-0
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Three different Jayhawks recorded goals on Sunday, including senior Holly Gault, who also added two assists, as the University of Kansas shut out Texas Tech, 3-0 at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
KU improves to 11-6 overall and 6-3 in the Big 12, while Texas Tech drops to 6-11-2 and 1-7-1 in conference play.
The win also solidifies the Jayhawks’ position in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. KU will be the No. 4 seed in the tourney and play in the 1:30 p.m., match on Nov. 1 against either Colorado or Nebraska.
“The team is playing well at the right time at the end of the regular season,” KU head coach Mark Francis said. “Hopefully we can keep things going.”
Sunday’s victory was a team effort as five different Jayhawks recorded at least one point and three different athletes stopped shots on the KU net.
Gault, who had not scored a goal since the Jayhawks defeated UCF on Sept. 17, found the back of the net early. In the 13th minute, Gault collected a Monica Dolinsky pass in the middle of the field and ran past two defenders to tally her fifth goal of the season.
Two minutes later, sophomore Jessica Bush scored in her team-leading seventh goal of the season. Freshman Shannon McCabe started the play, connecting with Gault along the far sideline. After dribbling twice, Gault crossed the ball to Bush at the top of the box, allowing the sophomore to beat the keeper high to the short side. Bush became just the third KU player to score a goal in four straight contests.
Sophomore Sara Rogers finished the day’s scoring with her second goal of the season. On a rush down the near side of the field, Gault again got open for a shot and hit the crossbar. The ball caromed perfectly to Rogers on the far side of the box and her shot beat TTU goalkeeper Tina Rincon to the far side in the 61st minute.
Despite trailing 3-0 midway the second half, the Red Raiders came out firing. Texas Tech outshot KU 9-4 in the final 25 minutes of play, including a flurry in the 70th minute where Bush had to make a pair of stops on Chessa Purser shots to keep TTU off the board.
Goalkeeper Julie Hanley did the rest, recording her third shutout in the team’s last four contests. The 5-foot-9 sophomore has not allowed a goal for 346 consecutive minutes. Hanley posted her seventh shutout of the season, the most by a KU goalkeeper since Meghan Miller recorded 11 in 2004.
KU outshot the Red Raiders 20-14, including 12-4 in the first half.
The Jayhawks will honor their senior class next Friday in the team’s season finale against Colorado at 3 p.m., at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
KU Notes: Bush can match a KU record if she can score a goal in a fifth-consecutive match. The school record is held by Hilla Rantala, who scored in five-straight contests in 2001 … Gault recorded her fourth multi-point match of the season two goals and an assist on Sunday … The Jayhawks improved to 8-3 all-time against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are winless in five all-time matches in Lawrence.
