Strong second half lifts Kansas past Missouri State in spring play

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Three goals within the opening 15 minutes of the second half gave the separation the Jayhawks needed as Kansas topped Missouri State, 3-0, Saturday evening in exhibition play at Rock Chalk Park. Junior Eva Eliasdottir scored twice, while junior Eva Eliasdottir added the third as helped Kansas remain unbeaten in its spring exhibition season.
 
After an evenly matched, scoreless opening 45 minutes, the Jayhawks wasted little time in netting the game’s first goal, with Eliasdottir breaking the stalemate five minutes after the restart. The junior beat a defender before slotting home her second goal in as many games.
 
Just four minutes later, Addisyn Merrick found space on the right wing and played a cross along the end line that was redirected by a slight touch from Katie McClure. The ball then found a wide open Maierhofer who knocked into the back of the net.
 
Eliasdottir found the back of the net again in the 57th minute. McClure played a curling cross from the left wing toward the far post of the Bear’s goal. The service found Elliasdottir who knocked it into the net with one touch.
 
Kansas held on for the shutout win from there, extending their spring exhibition unbeaten streak to 14 matches, dating back to 2017.
 
QUOTES
Head coach Mark Francis
His thoughts on today’s win:
“In the first half, we weren’t very sharp. We addressed that at halftime and I thought in the second half we looked a lot sharper. We scored three really good goals. We’ve worked a lot in the last two or three weeks on the attacking third and utilizing our wide players. So because of that I think we’re creating opportunities but our finishing needs to be better. There was some good things that came out of that today but, moving forward, we need to get more consistent in the attacking third.”

On Eva Eliasdottir’s production offensively:
“She’s got three goals in the first two games. She’s a strong, athletic kid. She gets on the end of stuff. The shot she had today, she finished really well. She gives us something different up front, especially running forward. She’s done really well so far playing up front for us.”
 
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will return to Rock Chalk Park on Wednesday, April 9 to continue spring play when they meet the Sporting Blue Valley Boys U14 club Team. Kickoff from Lawrence is slated for 7 p.m.
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