Kansas dominates in 3-0 win over Creighton

LAWRENCE, Kan. – A goal and an assist from sophomore Grace Hagan as well as Ashley Pankey’s second goal of the preseason helped propel the Kansas Jayhawks to a 3-0 win over Creighton in their final preseason exhibition Friday night inside Rock Chalk Park. KU dominated the Blues in nearly every category, which included a 22-2 advantage in shots.

“We were much better offensively today,” said head coach Mark Francis. “We changed up a few things in our formation and I think it paid off. I was also really happy with the girls’ mentality and how they continued to press the full 90 (minutes) even while being 2-0 up. This group did a great job of maintaining the pressure and the tempo and hopefully those traits will carry over into the regular season.”

The Jayhawks broke through in the 24^th minute when Pankey was tackled from behind inside the Creighton penalty area. The referee quickly blew his whistle and pointed to the spot, signaling an upcoming KU penalty kick. Hagan was the woman selected to take the kick, which she confidently slammed to the back of the net and put her team up 1-0 just over midway through the opening period.

Fifteen minutes later the Jayhawks took advantage of a Bluejay miscue. In an attempt to clear the ball out of her box, CU goalkeeper Erin Scott played the ball right to the feet of freshman Katie McClure, who saw nothing but green grass between her and the sophomore keeper just 25 yards from the mouth of the goal. McClure took several touches and unleashed a shot from 15 yards out that flew past the outstretch arms of Scott an in for the Jayhawks second goal of the day.

After halftime, Kansas didn’t waste much time in putting in their third goal. In the 50^th minute, Hagan played a low-running through ball to Pankey who was making a run into the Creighton box. Pankey met the pass around 12 yards out and sent in her second goal of the preseason to put her team up by what proved to be an insurmountable score line of 3-0.
Senior Ashley Pankey tallied her second goal of the preseason in Kansas’ 3-0 win over Creighton Friday night.Though the Jayhawks managed to put three shots past the Bluejay keepers, Kansas could have easily found itself with more. KU tallied 22 shots on the night, eight of which were on frame. Nine of the Jayhawks’ 10 starting field players posted at least one goal, while five reserves also notched an attempt. Hagan led her squad with five shots on the night.

It was a relatively easy night for the KU goalkeepers, as the Jayhawks again tried all three of its keepers out during the length of the game. Junior Maddie Dobyns, sophomore Lauren Breshears and redshirt freshman Regan Gibbs combined to earn the shutout but required just one save and faced two shots for the clean sheet.

The Jayhawks will now have a week to prepare for its regular-season opener. Kansas will welcome the Minnesota Golden Gophers to Rock Chalk Park on Friday, Aug. 19. The Jayhawks and Gophers are slated to kick off at 7 p.m. in the match that will be televised on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and ESPN3.

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