KU Soccer Continues Early Slate with Missouri State, Purdue

Weekend Notes

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas soccer will continue its early season schedule this weekend when it splits for a road and home contest for the second-consecutive week. The Jayhawks will take on the Missouri State Bears on Friday, Aug. 30 for a 6 p.m. kickoff from the Plaster Sports Complex in Springfield, Mo. Kansas will then return home for a Sunday date with Big Ten foe Purdue. The Jayhawks and Boilermakers are slated to kickoff at 1 p.m. from the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
 
Follow the Jayhawks
Fans can tune into Jayhawk Digital Passport to hear live play-by-play audio from both of Kansas’ matches this weekend. Throughout 2013 fans can subscribe to Jayhawk Digital Passport in daily, monthly or yearly increments to listen to the play-by-play call of Josh Kurelac. Just go to www.KUAthletics.com/showcase to get your subscription.
 
Throughout the season fans can also get live updates by logging on to KU soccer’s live stats for up-to-the-minute stats and updates from every Jayhawk match. Just log on to www.sidearmstats.com/kansas/wsoc during every home game and enjoy. Don’t forget to follow on Twitter at @KUWSoccer for another great way to stay connected to KU Soccer.
 
Series Histories
Friday’s match in Springfield will mark the 11th meeting between the Jayhawks and Bears. Kansas has dominated the series, boasting a 9-1 record against MSU and notching wins in each of the last three seasons. The game Sunday will be the fourth between Kansas and Purdue. KU leads the all-time series 2-1 after defeating the Boilermakers two years ago in West Lafayette, Ind., in overtime by a score of 1-0. KU also took down Purdue in its last trip to Lawrence with a decisive 3-0 victory.
 
About the Jayhawks
Kansas heads into the second weekend of the regular season after splitting its first two games of the year, falling at Arkansas 1-0 before downing Pacific 3-0 in Lawrence last week. Three different Jayhawks scored in their home-opening match against the Tigers and were led by senior Caroline Kastor, who tallied both a goal and an assist which marked her fourth career match with three or more points.
 
After being shutout against Arkansas, the Jayhawk offense showed its teeth against Pacific with 13 shots, seven of which were on target. KU is putting 50 percent of its shots on goal so far this year.
 
KU was solid on the defensive side in its first weekend of play, allowing just one goal in two games and holding its opponents to a 4.2 percent shot percentage. Junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Stroud started both of Kansas’ first two matches and notched the first shutout of her career versus Pacific. Stroud amassed eight saves in two matches and holds an 88.9 save percentage.
 
Scouting the Bears
Missouri State dropped both its contests over the opening weekend in a pair of extra time matches falling to Oral Roberts 2-1 in overtime and losing to Tulsa 1-0 in double overtime two days later. The Bears have 14 letterwinners and seven starters back from a year ago, when the team finished with a record of 8-8-2.
 
MSU is being outshot by its opponents by a margin of 12 shots per game but has been accurate with its chances, getting 60 percent of those shots on goal. Shelby Stewart posted the team’s only goal last weekend, with both Molly Brewer and Molly Huber assisting.
 
The Bear’s defense allowed 13.5 shots per match last weekend and 12 shots on frame. Goalkeeper Jessica Perry  started both of MSU’s matches, posted a 1.40 goals against average and a .750 save percentage. Perry has made nine saves thus far in 2013 with seven of those coming in the Bears’ 1-0 loss to Tulsa last Sunday.
 
Rob Brewer is in his 18th year as the head coach of the Missouri State women’s soccer program. Overall he has produced a 161-137-37 record during his tenure in Springfield and has seen only three losing campaigns as the Bears’ head man.
 
Scouting the Boilermakers
Like Kansas, Purdue split its opening-weekend matches, tallying a decisive 5-0 win over Akron Friday, before falling to Xavier 4-3 Sunday. Purdue returns 20 letterwinners and nine of its starters from the 2012 campaign that saw the team finish 7-10-2 and 11th in the Big Ten Conference.
 
The Boilermarkers’ offense has been potent so far this year, averaging four goals and 29 shots per game. Freshman Maddy Williams and junior Molly Kuramoto each notched two goals last weekend with four others finding the back of the opponents net once. Senior forward Hadley Stuart has added three assists, two of which came in the win over Akron.
 
The Purdue defense has allowed just 15 shots thus far in 2013, however opponents are getting over 50 percent of those shots on goal. Senior goalkeeper Clara Kridler has started each of the Boilermakers’ first two contests but has only played the first half of both, allowing three goals and making three saves in a total of 90 minutes played.
 
Head coach Robert Klatte is in his 16th year at Purdue. In his time at in West Lafayette, Klatte has amassed a career record of 160-119-31, and his Boilermakers have finished their regular season with a .600 or better record in nine of his 15 years.
 
Undaunting August
Mark Francis’ teams have notoriously gotten their seasons off to impressive starts, especially over the past 10 seasons. The month of August has been a good one for KU teams since 2003, as the Jayhawks have amassed a record of 20-5-1 in the season’s opening month, including Kansas’ first two games this year. In fact, KU has tallied at least three wins over its first four matches in seven of its last 10 seasons.
 
The Jayhawks are also outscoring their opponents 53-26 in 27 games played in August since 2003 for an average margin of +1.0 goals per game. Shutouts have also been plentiful for Kansas, tallying 13 August shutouts over the last 10 seasons, including last Sunday’s 3-0 win over Pacific.
 
Spreading the Wealth
In last week’s 3-0 win over Pacific, three different Jayhawks tallied goals and four different players notched assists. This type of unselfish play isn’t anything new for Kansas, especially over the past two years. KU has seen three or more of its players put in goals on nine occasions since 2011. In that same span, four or more Jayhawks have turned in assists in a game four times.
 
Last year, KU had seven different players enter the score sheet and 10 tally at least one helper. The program high came in 2003 when 14 of the team’s 20 players posted at least one goal.
 
Sweet Caroline
With her goal and assist against Pacific last Sunday, senior forward Caroline Kastor moved up in the school’s record books. The Wichita, Kan., native’s three points moved her past Emily Cressy to fifth on the school’s all-time points chart with 54. Kastor is also approaching milestones in other categories as she currently ranks sixth in career goals (21) and seventh in game-winning goals (6). The senior’s 21 goals are just two shy of Whitney Berry’s, Monica Dolinsky’s and Emily Cressy’s career totals of 23, which tie for third most at KU all-time.
 
Jayhawk Picked Fifth in Preseason Poll
Kansas soccer is predicted to finish fifth in the Big 12 preseason coaches’ poll, the conference office released Aug. 9.  The ranking marks the sixth time in the 14-year history of the preseason vote that KU has been picked to finish among the top-five teams in the conference.
 
Defending league champion West Virginia was chosen to win the conference, receiving seven first-place votes and 63 points overall, followed by Texas Tech (55), Baylor (52), Oklahoma State (40), Kansas (33), Texas (31), Oklahoma (21), TCU (19) and Iowa State (10).
 
For Starters
Kansas returns seven players from last year’s team that started at least 10 games, which finished the season at 10-8-2. Included in the seven returning starters are four of the team’s top five scorers from a year ago.
 
Those starters back for the 2013 campaign include three forwards: senior Caroline Kastor (11 goals, 24 pts) and sophomore forwards Ashley Williams (eight goals, two assists) and Courtney Dickerson (four goals, two assists),  one midfielder in junior Jamie Fletcher (three goals, six assists) as well as three defenders in senior Madi Hillis and juniors Haley Yearout and Caroline Van Slambrouck.
 
KU also brings back 2011 Big 12 All-Newcomer honoree, redshirt sophomore Liana Salazar, who started all of KU’s 21 matches as a freshman in 2011 before redshirting last season. Salazar tallied five goals and an assist in her rookie season.
 
Up Next
KU will take part in the Sun Devil Desert Classic in Tempe, Ariz., Sept. 6-8. The Jayhawks will take on the Arizona Wildcats at 4:30 p.m. (CT) in the tournament’s first game Friday before going up against host Arizona State at 1:30 p.m. (CT) Sunday. KU and ASU played to a 2-2 tie last season in Lawrence.
 
 
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