Jayhawks and Longhorns to clash Sunday in Austin

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AUSTIN, Texas – The Kansas Jayhawks will look to move to 3-0 in Big 12 play when they hit the pitch against the Texas Longhorns on Sunday, Oct. 2. The Jayhawks will look to extend their unbeaten streak to four games, while the Longhorns are eying their first win in conference play. Kickoff from Mike A. Myers Stadium is set for 1 p.m., and can be viewed on the Longhorn Network.
 
About the Jayhawks
Kansas is coming off a 2-1 victory over the TCU Horned Frogs Friday night in Fort Worth, which marked the Jayhawks’ sixth unbeaten result in its last seven outings. . The Jayhawks’ lone loss over the last three weekends came at the hands of the USC Trojans, who are now ranked ninth in the NCAA. Over its last seven outings KU has scored 12 goals and has a goals-against average of 0.97.
 
The Jayhawk offense has gained momentum over the last three weeks, scoring 12 goals in its last seven outings and averaging 17 shots per game in that span. Fourteen different Jayhawks have tallied at least five shots during the first 12 matches, with 11 players boasting a goal or an assist. Sophomore Grace Hagan leads the team with her five goals and 36 shots. Hagan, along with freshman Katie McClure, have combined for nearly a third of the team’s shots, with 61 between the two Wichita natives.
 
The KU defense has allowed 11 goals thus far in 2016. The Jayhawks have held their opponents to an average of just over 10 shots per game and a total of just 47 shots on frame (3.9 per game). The KU defense has allowed one opponent goal or fewer in 14 of its last 16 outings dating back to last season. Junior Maddie Dobyns has started in goal for the Jayhawks 10 times in 2016. As the KU goalkeeper this year she has amassed a goals-against average of 0.80, has collected 24 saves and has tallied a pair of shutouts.
 
About the Longhorns
Texas enters the match Sunday in the midst of a three-match winless streak following a double-overtime loss to the Oklahoma State Cowgirls Friday night in Austin. Six of the Longhorn’s last seven matches have been decided by one goal or less and three of those have gone to extra time.
 
The Longhorn offense has been potent this season, scoring multiple goals in five of its games and suffering only two shutouts. UT is posting 15.2 shots per game and is scoring on over 12 percent of those attempts. Texas has also managed to put over 38 percent of those 15.2 shots per game on target. Alexa Adams leads the team with five goals, while Julia Dyche is tops on the squad in assists with five.
 
The UT defense has conceded 12 goals this season, six of which have come in the last four outings. Longhorn opponents are averaging 11 shots per match and are putting over under 33 percent of those attempts on frame. Texas has played three keepers this season, with freshman Paige Brown playing nine of the matches. Brown has turned in a goals-against average of 1.05, a save percentage of .714 and has tallied 25 saves.
 
Angela Kelly is in her fifth season as the head coach of the Texas women’s soccer program. In her first four-plus seasons with the Longhorns, Kelly has amassed a 45-36-15 record.
 
LAST TIME OUT
After enduring more than 756 days between goals, junior forward Lois Heuchan sent in a pair within 45 minutes to help the Kansas Jayhawks to a 2-1 win over the TCU Horned Frogs Friday night at Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium.
 
For the sixth time this season, Kansas got on the board first with the help of a goal within the opening 20 minutes of the match. At the end of a run into the heart of the TCU defense, senior Tayler Estrada played a pass into the Horned Frogs box. The TCU defender deflected the pass, however Heuchan was there to meet the deflection. The junior let the ball take one bounce before heading it inside the right post of the TCU frame. The goal was Heuchan’s first of the season and first since her freshman campaign in 2014.
 
The Kansas offense reclaimed the lead less than 12 minutes later. Senior Jackie Georgoulis sent an on-point pass downfield to a streaking Katie McClure, who used some fancy dribbling to evade a defender and find an opening at the top of TCU’s 18-yard box. The freshman then played a pass across the box to Heuchan who had gotten in behind the Horned Frog defenders. With a one-on-one look between herself and TCU keeper Katie Lund, Heuchan slotted a shot home past the freshman keeper to notch the first multi-goal game of her career.
 
MESSIN’ WITH TEXAS
In its first 20 years as a program, the state of Texas proved to be a tough place to play for a host of Jayhawk squads, that is until the 2014 season and forward. Prior to 2014, Kansas amassed an overall record of 11-30-8 in matches played inside the Lone Star State, resulting in a win percentage of just .306. Since the start of 2014 though, the Jayhawks turned that trend on its head, going 6-1-0. KU’s loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock last season brought the longest “Lone Star State” winning streak in program history to an end at five.
 
Regardless of where they are playing, the Jayhawks have been pests to Texas schools over the last two-plus seasons. In its 17 games against Texas schools since the start of 2014, KU has amassed a record of 12-4-1, a goal differential of +12 and a goals-against average of 0.75.
 
Kansas will have one more chance this season to pick up a win inside Texas following its match against the Longhorns Sunday. KU will journey to take on Baylor on Oct. 23. KU has won each of its last four match-ups with the Bears.
 
A TALE OF TWO SEASONS
After a relatively slow start to the 2016 campaign, the Jayhawks are starting to pick up steam, and nothing demonstrates this fact better than comparing the team’s first five matches, with their six most recent. The team began the year with only two victories in its first five outings, while the team that took the field the last six times has suffered just one defeat. The difference in squads over those two periods of the 2016 season is apparent by much more than just looking at wins and losses.
 
In its first five matches, the Kansas offense endured several stagnant stretches, netting only four goals and posting a scoreless streak of more than 200 minutes. KU was posting over 16 shots per match but putting less than 35 percent of those on goal. Since then though, Kansas’ offense has gained momentum. In its next six games, the Jayhawks shot in 10 goals, which were scored by six different players. KU has also averaged nearly 18 shots in those six outings and has put nearly 38 percent of them on target.
 
EARLY STRIKERS
With the Jayhawks currently boasting a 40-match unbeaten streak in games they score first, it’s important for Kansas to look to get on the board early. The 2016 squad has done just that, with 10 of Kansas’ 16 goals coming in the first half and six of those netted in the first 20 minutes of action. Katie McClure’s eventual game-winner against UMKC on Sept. 11, which came just 2:46 into the match, sits as the earliest KU strike so far this season.
 
This is almost a complete reversal when comparing to the KU squad from a year ago. The 2015 Jayhawks scored 16 of their 24 goals in the second half or later, nine of which came after the 75th minute. Last year’s squad also netted just two goals within the opening 20 minutes of a match.
 
GO TO THE CORNER!
With the first 11 regular season matches in the books, the Jayhawks have worked their way to near the top of NCAA ranks in an important statistical category, corner kicks. Kansas is earning 7.5 corners per match in its 11 outings this season, a figure that leads the Big 12 and has been topped by only four other teams in the NCAA. The Jayhawks have earned 10 or more corners in three matches this season, and fewer than six on only one occasion.
 
If the Jayhawks continue this pace for the remainder of the season, they would finish the regular season with around 140 corners. That mark would top the program record of 128 set in 2005. Last year, Kansas broke the 100-corner mark for the first time since that record year in 2005, and appear primed to achieve that milestone again this season.
 
On the flip side, Jayhawk opponents are earning only 3.2 corner kicks per match, the third fewest among Big 12 teams this year.
 
IRON JAYHAWKS
With any veteran laden team, there are bound to be some impressive career streaks established and the 2016 Jayhawks are no different. One streak that shows the continuity and consistency of this KU crew is the amount of consecutive games started. Five Jayhawks currently boast active stretches of 25-straight matches started or longer, which includes junior Kayla Morrison, whose streak sits at 54-straight starts for Kansas.
 
Morrison’s mark is already among the longest in program history as it sits 10th on the all-time list among field players. If the Corona, California product is in the starting lineup in each of Kansas’ final seven regular-season games, she would move to eighth on that list with 60-straight starts.
 
Two field players hold the ultimate title of “Iron Jayhawk” as they started each of KU’s matches over a four-year span. Estelle Johnson (2006-09) and Afton Sauer (2004-07) were in the starting 11 in all 83 games of their careers.
 
SPREADING THE WEALTH
The Kansas offense has shown to be a tough assignment for opposing defenses this year after a host of Jayhawks have made their presence known on the stat sheet. Eleven different Jayhawks have had their hand in at least one of the team’s goals thus far in 2016, either scoring or assisting. A total of 14 players have managed to tally five or more shots and, while sophomore Grace Hagan and freshman Katie McClure have notched nearly a third of the team’s total shots (61), six of their teammates have added double-digit attempts to the team’s total of 200.
 
This is a trend that carried over from last year’s squad, as 11 different players managed to post double-figure shots and 10 Jayhawks tallied at least one goal or assist in 2015.
 
ROAD WARRIORS
The Jayhawks have continued their trend of relatively strong performances in matches away from Rock Chalk Park. Kansas can hang its hat on an impressive record in road games over the past two-plus years. KU has played 25 regular-season road games since the start of the 2014 season, amassing a record of 13-9-3, which included a 5-5-1 record last year.
 
The Jayhawks will hope they can continue this trend over the next three weekends, with four of their next six matches away from Lawrence.
 
FEEDING ON NONCON
With the conclusion of the nonconference portion of their season, the Jayhawks have made it nine-straight years with a .500 winning percentage or better against regular-season nonconference foes. Since the start of the 2012 season, Kansas has posted an impressive 32-15-6 mark in its 53 regular-season nonconference matches (66%), which includes a 20-8-3 mark since 2014. In the last five seasons, KU has outscored noncon opponents by a tally of 91-50.
 
Mark Francis has led KU to a winning record in noncon in 17 of his 18 seasons in Lawrence and is now 111-47-10 in regular-season nonconference games.
 
LET’S GET DEFENSIVE
With a veteran crew comprising the KU back line this season, the Jayhawks are once again proving to be a stout defensive team. Kansas is boasting a goals-against average of 0.86 following its first 11 matches, which includes three shutouts. The Jayhawks are also allowing just over 10 opponent shots per match, which includes three games when KU opponents sent in seven or fewer attempts. Over their last 53 matches (dating back to the start of the 2014 season), the Jayhawks shutout 18 opponents and boasted a goals-against average of 0.96. Kansas has conceded only 52 opponent goals in that span and has allowed one opponent goal or less in 13 of its last 15 matches.
 
Already this season, KU has turned in an impressive shutout streak. KU went 282-straight minutes without conceding a goal from Aug. 19-28. The figure was the 18th-longest in school history and marked the sixth time over the last five seasons the Jayhawks have tallied an opponent scoreless streak of 280 minutes or longer.
 
JUST ONE WILL DO IT
Already in 2016 the Jayhawks have continued 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 63 matches. The Jayhawks’ record in those matches: 49-8-6. 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, and a 7-1-2 record this year.
 
FIRST TO SCORE, WINS GALORE
Over its past 94 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 94-game span, the Jayhawks have been on the losing end only once in the matches which they have put in the match’s first goal. Kansas has amassed a record of 46-1-5 in those games, which included an 8-0-1 mark last year and a 6-0-2 mark so far this season. The Jayhawks’ win over TCU on Friday night marked their 40th-consecutive unbeaten match when they have scored first.
 
On the flip side, KU hasn’t been quite as fortunate when its opponents have gotten on the board first. Kansas’ win over Texas Tech last Friday marked just the third victory for the Jayhawks in that same 93-game span when finding itself trailing 1-0 at any point in a match. The Jayhawks are now 3-35-1 in those games over the last four seasons, which includes all three of the Jayhawks’ losses thus far in 2016.
 
UP NEXT
Kansas will return home to take on the Big 12 regular-season championship squads from six of the last eight years. The Jayhawks will first host the West Virginia Mountaineers on Friday, Oct. 7 inside Rock Chalk Park in a 7 p.m., match. Two days later Kansas will do battle with the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in a Sunday afternoon match. KU and OSU are slated to kickoff at 1 p.m., and will be televised on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and ESPN3.
 
 
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