KU Soccer hits the road for South Dakota State Sunday

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LAWRENCE, Kan. – For the first time in 2016, the Kansas Jayhawks will leave the friendly confines of Rock Chalk Park when they journey to Brookings, South Dakota to take on the South Dakota State Jackrabbits on Sunday, Aug. 28. Kansas looks to post its third-straight victory and extended its 201-minute opponent scoreless streak. The match is slated to kick off at 1 p.m. at Fishback Soccer Park.
 
About the Jayhawks
The Kansas Jayhawks are coming off their second-consecutive 1-0 win after topping the Colorado Buffaloes in Lawrence Friday night. The Jayhawks are currently boasting an opponent scoreless streak of over 200 minutes. KU returns 15 letterwinners and eight starters from the 2015 squad which went 10-9-2, finished sixth in the Big 12 and made the program’s first appearance in the conference tournament championship game.
 
The Jayhawk offense was active during its first three outings of the season, averaging 17 shots per match and tallying over seven corner kicks per outing, which leads the Big 12. Sixteen different Jayhawks tallied at least one shot during the first three matches, with 13 of those players boasting multiple shots. Sophomore Grace Hagan is Kansas’ top returning scorer after tallying four goals and three assists during her freshman campaign, Freshman Mandi Duggan leads the team with two goals and seven shots on the year.
 
The KU defense has allowed just one goal in the run of play after the opening three games and have held those team to an average of only nine shots and a total of just five shots on frame. Over the last two seasons the Jayhawks are boasting a goals-against average of 0.93 and have held opponents to 12.3 shots per game during that span. Junior Maddie Dobyns got the start between the posts in KU’s first three outings. She made 11 saves, allowed two goals and tallied her eighth-career shutout with her clean sheet against Colorado.
 
About the Jackrabbits
South Dakota State picked up their first win of 2016 with a 3-0 drubbing of Northern Iowa Friday night in Brookings. The Jackrabbits opened their season last weekend with a pair of 1-0 losses to Utah State and Iowa State. SDSU returns seven of 11 starters and 20 letterwinners from a squad that went 12-6-3 and finished third in the Summit League’s 2015 regular season standings.
 
The SDSU offense was quiet over its first weekend but came alive Friday, posting three goals and 12 shots in its win over UNI. The Jackrabbits have managed to put just under 30 percent of the 8.3 shots per game on target. Thre different players have scored the team’s three goals thus far with senior forward Shelby Raper leading the squad her one goal and assist. Eight Jackrabbits have tallied multiple shots with junior midfielder Jennie Scisclow leading the way with five attempts.
 
South Dakota State has already shown its teeth on the defensive end. The Jackrabbit opponents amassed just two goals  and averaged 10.3 shots in three games. SDSU senior Nicole Inskeep has played the majority of the minutes in goal. She as started all three matches and boasts a goals-against average of 0.80, a save percentage of .750 and has tallied six saves.
 
Lang Wedemeyer is in his 17th year as the head coach of the South Dakota State women’s soccer program. Wedemeyer has led the Jackrabbits to a 152-118-35 record in his 16-plus seasons, to two NCAA Tournament appearances (2008, 2014) and three Summit League Tournament Championships (2008, 2014, 2015). He was also led the program to four regular-season conference titles, all coming since 2008.
 
Road Warriors
This week the Jayhawks will leave the friendly confines of Rock Chalk Park for the first time this year as they will take part in their first road game of 2016. The Jayhawks can hang their hat on an impressive record in road games over the past two years. KU has played 18 true road games since the start of the 2014 season, amassing a record of 10-7-1, which included a 5-5-1 record last year.
 
The Jayhawks will hope they can continue this trend into the next month, with six of its next seven matches away from Lawrence.
 
 
FEEDING ON NON-CON
This season, the Jayhawks will try to make it eight-straight seasons with a .500 winning percentage or better against regular-season non-conference foes. Over the start of the 2012 season, Kansas has posted an impressive 29-13-4 mark in its 46 regular-season non-conference matches (66.7%), which includes a 17-6-1 mark since 2014. Since the start of the 2012 season, KU has outscored non-con opponents by a tally of 77-39.
 
Mark Francis has led KU to a winning record in non-con in 16 of his 17 seasons in Lawrence and is now 108-45-8 in regular season non-conference games.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Freshman Mandi Duggan netted her second goal in as many games, while junior Maddie Dobyns notched a career-high eight saves as the Kansas Jayhawks topped the Colorado Buffaloes, 1-0, Friday night at Rock Chalk Park. The Jayhawks tallied their second win of the 2016 season and sit at 2-1-0, while the Buffaloes took their first loss of the season with the same record of 2-1-0.
 
In almost identical circumstances to its game last Sunday, Kansas netted the match’s opening goal within the first 20 minutes off the foot of Duggan. In the 18th minute, senior midfielder Tayler Estrada sent a long ball downfield to her freshman teammate, who then beat the last Colorado defender. The goalkeeper dove early and Duggan slid the ball in to the net just inside the left post.
 
Kansas pushed forward offensively in to the second half and it showed. The Buffaloes only managed one shot on target out of their five second-half attempts while the Jayhawks posted nine shots, four of which were on target.
 
While Duggan was the Jayhawks’ star on offense, Dobyns was the difference in the match. The KU keeper tallied a career high eight saves, seven of which came in the opening half. The Lee’s Summit, Mo. native came up big on several key Colorado chances and held the Buffaloes scoreless for the first time this season. The clean sheet was the eighth of the junior’s career and her second-consecutive shutout.
 
rebounding on Opening Weekend
Despite its loss to Minnesota on Friday night, Kansas continued its habit of rebounding off a season-opening loss when it claimed its 1-0 win over Marquette two days later. The win kept alive an impressive streak that has developed over Mark Francis’ tenure. The Jayhawks have lost their first match of the season eight times during their 21-year history, but have conceded two-straight losses to open a campaign just twice in that span.
 
Kansas last began a season with two losses in 1998 and have never started a year 0-2 in head coach Mark Francis’ 18 seasons at the helm in Lawrence. The only other team to drop its first two outings was KU’s inaugural team in 1995. In Francis’ 18 years, his six teams that lost their opening match have established a record of 4-0-2 in their second outing of the year.
 
FOR STARTERS
Kansas returns eight players from last year’s team that started at least 17 games. Included in the eight returning starters are six players who have amassed 35 starts or more during their Jayhawk careers.
 
Senior Tayler Estrada leads the way among active KU players with 61 starts in her KU career, while senior Jackie Georgoulis has been a starter in 48 matches. Junior Kayla Morrison has started each of her team’s 43 matches during her time in Lawrence. Seniors Hanna Kallmaier and Morgan Williams have 40 starts to their credit with senior Aurélie Gagnet not far behind with 37.
 
Jayhawks PICKED seventh in Big 12 Preseason Coaches’ Poll
Kansas soccer was predicted to finish seventh in the 2016 league standings according to the Big 12 preseason coaches’ poll which was released last week. The ranking marks just the fourth time in the 17-year history of the preseason vote that KU has been picked seventh or lower in the conference’s poll.
 
Four-time defending league champion West Virginia was the coaches’ choice to win the conference, receiving eight first-place votes and 64 points overall. The Mountaineers were followed by Texas Tech (57), Oklahoma (42), Baylor (35), Oklahoma State (34), Texas (32), Kansas (30), TCU (22) and Iowa State (8).
 
Experience vs. Youth
Few teams in the history of Kansas soccer have had a team with has many veterans alongside so many newcomers as the 2016 Jayhawks. This year’s team will feature seven seniors, two of which are fifth-year seniors. Six of the seven members of the 2016 senior class have played in at least 49 matches during their careers and each senior has been in the starting lineup on at least nine occasions.
 
On the other hand, over 40 percent of this year’s Kansas squad will feature freshmen as the Jayhawks will see nine true freshmen as well as a pair of redshirt freshmen on the roster. No other KU team since 1999 (Mark Francis era) has had a roster with more than 10 freshmen.
 
BIG CLEATS TO FILL
The 2016 version of the Jayhawks will try to fill the void left by two of the most talented goal scorers in program history. Graduated seniors Liana Salazar and Ashley Williams combined for 49 goals and 22 assists during their respective KU careers, which included 31 goals over the last two seasons. Salazar ended her career as the No. 2 goal scorer in program history with her 28 goals, while Williams closed her collegiate career at No. 7 on KU’s all-time chart with 21.
 
With the loss of the senior duo, Salazar and Williams, as well as All-Big 12 freshman Parker Roberts, the Jayhawks will need to replace over half of their offensive production from a season ago. Sophomore Grace Hagan could be the top candidate to pull the offensive slack. The Wichita, Kansas product notched four goals and four assists in her first season in Lawrence last year, while seniors Jackie Georgoulis, Ashley Pankey and sophomore Anna Courtney combined for the Jayhawks’ remaining six goals in 2016.
 
Just One will Do It
The 2016 Jayhawks will try to carry on an impressive trend that has developed over the last three seasons when it comes to scoring. Since the start of the 2012 season, the Kansas soccer team has scored at least one goal in 56 matches. The Jayhawks’ record in those matches: 44-8-4. Kansas was won or drawn all but eight matches in which it has scored, including a 25-4-1 record in those instances during the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
 
First to Score, Wins Galore
Over its past 85 games, dating back to the beginning of the 2012 season, Kansas has developed an interesting trend when it comes to which team tallies the first goal of the match. During that 85-game span, the Jayhawks have been on the losing end only once in the games which they have put in the match’s first goal. Kansas has amassed a record of 42-1-3 in those games, which included an 8-0-1 mark last year. The Jayhawks’ win over Colorado Friday marked their 34th-consecutive unbeaten match when KU has scored first.
 
On the flip side, KU hasn’t been quite as fortunate when its opponents have gotten on the board first. Kansas’ wins over Colorado College and Arkansas last season were the first and only wins in that same 84-game span when finding itself trailing 1-0 at any point in a match. The Jayhawks are 2-33-1 in those games over the last four seasons, which includes the Jayhawks’ season-opening loss to the Minnesota Gophers on Aug. 19
 
LET’s GET DEFENSIVE
With the entire KU back line set to return this season, the Jayhawks are once again expected to be a stout defensive team. Over the last two seasons, the Jayhawks shutout 15 opponents and boasted a goals-against average of 1.02. Kansas allowed just 25 goals last year and no more than one opponent goal in all but five of their 21 matches. KU went 307-straight minutes without conceding a goal from Oct. 2-16, the 10th-longest streak in school history and the third streak of over 290 minutes in the last two seasons.
 
Kansas opponents’ lack of goal scoring may be attributed to the Jayhawks’ ability to keep the opposing team’s shot percentage low. Of the 335 shots KU allowed last season, opponents put just 38 percent of those on target and only got nine percent of those shots past the KU goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
 
THIS DAY IN KU SOCCER HISTORY:
August 26, 2011 – Freshman Jamie Fletcher’s goal in the 62nd minute proved to the be the game-winner as the Kansas soccer team held on to defeat USC 3-2 in the opening game of the USD Tournament in San Diego. KU junior Whitney Berry also had a big night collecting a goal and two assists. With the win, the Jayhawks improved to 2-1 overall, while the preseason nationally-ranked Trojans fell to 0-3.
 
During the first 45 minutes, USC held a 10-5 shot advantage but coming out after the break with the score tied 2-2, both teams focused on defense as they combined for just nine shots in the second half.
 
Facing a tougher time offensively, Fletcher was able to take advantage of one of KU’s five shots in the second half finishing a pass from Berry in the 62nd minute. The goal gave the Jayhawks a 3-2 advantage, which they were able to preserve through the final 28 minutes. It marked Fletcher’s fourth goal and second game-winner this year. Berry led the KU offense with five shots during the contest, including four on goal. Fletcher chipped in with three shots.
 
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will head to Lincoln, Nebraska for the second-straight year to take on former conference rival, Nebraska. The Jayhawks and Cornhuskers will meet for a 7 p.m. date on Friday, Sept. 2. KU will remain in Lincoln for a match two days later against Valaparaiso. Kickoff against the Crusaders is slated for 10:30 a.m.
 
 
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