⚽ Two Second Half Goals Lift Kansas Over Missouri State

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Kansas soccer opened its 2022 spring exhibition season on Saturday with a 2-0 win against Missouri State at Allison South Stadium.

Kansas dominated possession in the first half and had multiple chances but were unable to convert. The score was tied 0-0 at the half.

In the second half, the Jayhawks finally broke through. Super-senior midfielder Rylan Childers dribbled into the box and was fouled to setup a penalty kick. Junior forward Shira Elinav took the penalty and put it in the back of the net to make it 1-0.

The second goal of the half came off the foot of sophomore forward Maggie Gagné. Gagné penetrated on the dribble and cut inside to her left foot and shot into the upper corner from the edge of the box to extend the lead to 2-0.

Kansas continues spring exhibition play on Saturday, March 26, at Omaha. The Jayhawks and Mavericks will kick off at 2 p.m. CT.

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Head coach Mark Francis
“I thought the girls executed a lot of the elements we’ve worked on in training really well – some defensive parts of the game and also attacking parts of the game. We created numerous opportunities and limited Missouri State to only one shot on goal right at the end of the game, which Hayven (Harrison) made a great save. Other than that, I thought we did a really good job denying them opportunities and picking off balls in our half of the field.

In the attacking parts of the game we created numerous opportunities. Three one versus ones with the keeper and another opportunity that we should have hit the frame.

We need to be more efficient in finishing our chances, but I was happy with a number of good scoring opportunities that we created. It’s definitely a good start to the spring slate and we look forward to developing and progressing from this point forward.”