Arkansas strikes late to upend Jayhawks, 2-1
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A Razorback goal with less than four minutes remaining proved to be the difference as the Kansas Jayhawks fell to Arkansas, 2-1, Saturday afternoon in spring exhibition play. Junior Kayla Morrison tallied her first goal of the spring season as Kansas fell to 1-2 in spring play.
“To be honest, I really thought Arkansas deserved to win the game today,” said head coach Mark Francis. “We couldn’t connect our passes, our tempo was slow and the energy was down. Collectively, we just didn’t have it today and Arkansas was the better team.”
Morrison got the Jayhawks on the board in the early minutes of the second half. A corner kick sent in by junior Lois Heuchan in the 53rd minute found her teammate in the heart of the Razorback penalty box. Morrison then headed it into the back of the net to notch her first goal of the spring and give her team the 1-0 lead.
The KU lead lasted only 12 minutes though as the home side brought the score level in the 65th minute. Like the Jayhawks, the Razorbacks’ first goal came off a corner kick.
The score remained 1-1 heading into the waning minutes of the match when Arkansas sent in the eventual game winner off a rebound in the 87th minute.
“We’ve had a great spring so far but we need to back on track and need to get back to the things we’ve been working on,” Francis concluded. “I challenged the group after the game so hopefully they will take that to heart and come ready to get better in practice on Monday. If we do that, we should finish off these last two weeks of the spring really well.”
Kansas will continue its spring season next weekend when the Jayhawks journey to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, April 22. Kickoff from Iowa City is slated for 12 p.m.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
