Jayhawks Tangle With No. 20 Missouri on Senior Day
Oct. 27, 2009
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
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Kansas soccer will renew its Border Showdown rivalry with No. 20 Missouri Friday, with the Jayhawks’ postseason hopes riding in the balance. KU will face the Tigers at 3 p.m., at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex, needing a win and a loss by either Baylor or Texas Tech to qualify for the Big 12 Soccer Championship.
Friday’s match will also mark Senior Day as five members of the Kansas soccer team, Kim Boyer, Monica Dolinsky, Julie Hanley, Estelle Johnson and Shannon McCabe, will all be playing in their final contest at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
Gametracker will be available with live statistical updates for the match Friday. Fans can find a link to Gametracker at www.kuathletics.com.
ABOUT THE JAYHAWKS
Kansas will be looking to qualify for the Big 12 Soccer Championship for the 10th consecutive season. The Jayhawks are currently in ninth-place in the league standings, sitting two points behind eighth-place Baylor and three behind seventh-place Texas Tech. KU is 6-2 at home this season, and hasn’t lost to Missouri in Lawrence since 1996.
KU’s offense is led by sophomore Emily Cressy’s nine goals and 21 points this season. Freshman Whitney Berry has five goals, and is tops on the team with nine assists. Redshirt freshman Kat Liebetrau has posted a 6-2 record in net this season along with a 1.43 goals against average and a .714 save percentage with three shutouts.
LAST TIME OUT
Senior midfielder Monica Dolinsky’s penalty kick in the 55th minute lifted Kansas past Iowa State, 1-0 Sunday at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. KU thoroughly dominated play throughout the contest, outshooting the visitors 25-7. However, the Jayhawks could not gain the advantage on the scoreboard until Dolinsky’s successful penalty kick following an Iowa State foul in the box early in the second half.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Missouri enters Friday’s showdown with Kansas on a roll, having won six-straight Big 12 matches and is undefeated in its last 10 games. The Tigers’ last defeat came on Sept. 20, at No. 5 UCLA. MU is looking to become the first team since Texas A&M in 2002 to go through Big 12 play unbeaten.
The Tigers boast the second-highest scoring offense in the league, with senior forward Kristin Andrighetto leading the way with eight goals and four assists. Fellow senior Michelle Collins is tops on the team with six assists. In goal, senior Tasha Dittamore has started all 19 matches, and has a 1.31 goals against average, a .745 save percentage and four shutouts.
KU leads the all-time series 8-7-1, but lost to the Tigers in Columbia last season.
JAYHAWK-TIGER CONNECTIONS
– Kansas juniors Erin Ellefson, Geneva Magness, Rachel Morris and Caitlin Noble as well as Missouri junior Kari Adam and freshman Molly Sylvester all grew up in Overland Park, Kan. However, Adam and Sylvester attended Blue Valley Northwest High School, while the group of Jayhawks are products of St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Olathe East High School and Blue Valley West High School.
– Kansas goalkeeper Julie Hanley and midfielder Monica Dolinsky and Missouri goalkeeper Tasha Dittamore all played together on the Region III ODP team.
– Several Jayhawks and Tigers are products of the same club programs, but were never teammates: Sierra Miramontez (KU) and Molly Sylvester (MU) on the KC Comets Select; Katie Williams (KU) and Crystal Wagner (MU) on the Houston Challenge; Estelle Johnson (KU) and Krista Kruse (MU) on the Fort Collins Arsenal; Logan Reed (KU), Alex Winchester (KU) and Kelsey Blincow (MU) on the Dallas-based Sting.
Mo-VING UP IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Senior midfielder Monica Dolinsky scored a pair of goals and added an assist in Kansas’ two matches last weekend to continue her climb in the school record books.
Dolinsky, a senior from Carmel, Ind., now has 23 goals, 27 assists, 73 points and seven game-winning goals in her career, which all rank in the top five in each category at Kansas. The senior’s 27 career assists also tie her for the 20th-most in Big 12 history.
The senior midfielder will look to add to her totals against a familiar foe on Friday. In four career matches against Missouri, Dolinsky has three goals and three assists, including a six-point match against the Tigers in 2006.
HELP ME, WHITNEY
Kansas freshman Whitney Berryhas been one of the main catalysts in the Jayhawk offense. The first-year forward had two assists against Nebraska last weekend, giving her nine for the season. Her nine assists this year are the most by a Jayhawk freshman as well as the fourth-most by a KU athlete in any season.
While she wasn’t credited with an assist against Iowa State, Berry’s through-ball to Emily Cressy early in the second half eventually led to the game-winning goal after Cressy was taken down in the box. The freshman has at least one point in five of KU’s nine Big 12 matches this season, including a season-best five points in the 3-2 win over Texas Tech on Oct. 9.
THE 7,000 CLUB
Early in the first half of the Nebraska game last week, Estelle Johnson became just the third player in Kansas history to log over 7,000 minutes of field time in her career. Johnson (7,183) joins former teammate Afton Sauer (7,450) and goalkeeper Meghan Miller (7,836) as the only members of the 7,000-minute club.
Johnson will participate in her 83rd match in the Crimson and Blue on Friday and will likely start for the 82nd time. Both totals will put her in the Top 10 in those categories.
Corner Kicks
– Kansas will host No. 20 Missouri in the regular season finale at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. This will mark the 17th meeting between the Border Showdown rivals on the soccer field and the seventh time the teams have met in the last match of the regular season.
– Kansas senior Monica Dolinsky connected on a penalty kick against Iowa State last Sunday. It marked KU’s first pk attempt of the season, and first successful attempt since Sept. 14 of last season, which was also scored by Dolinsky.
– Junior Caitlin Noble scored a goal off a rebound against Nebraska on Oct. 23, marking her fourth goal of the season. All four of her scoring plays have come against Big 12 opponents.
– Sophomore Emily Cressyrecorded her team-leading ninth goal of the season against Nebraska. Cressy’s nine goals rank her fourth in the Big 12, and are the most by a Jayhawk sophomore since Caroline Smith’s 19-goal season in 2003.
– The Jayhawks have had success at home this season, going 6-2 in their eight matches in Lawrence. KU has also outscored its opposition 23-12 in its home contests this year.
– Kansas scored three second half goals against Nebraska on Oct. 23, marking the fourth time this season that the Jayhawks have scored at least three times in one half.
– Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Kat Liebetrau recorded her third career shutout against Iowa State on Oct. 25. Liebetrau also blanked Drake and Arizona State this season.
UP NEXT
With a win over Missouri, and a loss by either Baylor or Texas Tech, the Jayhawks will participate in the Big 12 Soccer Championship in San Antonio, Texas, beginning Wednesday, Nov. 4. A Jayhawk win would likely match them up against Missouri again in the first round of the conference tournament.
