Jayhawks Ready to Host Kansas Invitational this Weekend

Weekend Notes

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas soccer will return home to host the Kansas Invitational in Lawrence Sept. 13-15. The Jayhawks will welcome West Coast Conference foes San Diego and San Francisco as well as Nebraska over the weekend. Friday’s 4:30 p.m. match between the Jayhawks and Toreros will be broadcast on Metro Sports and ESPN3.com. KU and the Dons of San Francisco will return to the pitch two days later on Sunday, Sept. 15 for a noon kickoff.
 
Jayhawks on the Air
Friday’s match marks the first of four televised matches for the Jayhawks in 2013. Nearly 86 million homes will be able to tune in and watch Kansas take on San Diego as Kansas City’s local channel Metro Sports and ESPN3.com team up to bring the action right to fans. Dave Stewart and Huw Williams will call the action, which can be accessed anywhere outside the state of Kansas by accessing ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app. Fans inside Kansas and the Kansas City Metro area can catch the match by tuning in to Metro Sports.
 
Series Histories
The Jayhawks and Toreros have seen a lot of each other over the last 10 seasons, meeting on the pitch four times with KU coming away victorious in each. Most recently in 2011, KU took down USD by a score of 3-2 in San Diego. Kansas holds an all-time record of 8-5-0 against West Coast Conference squads, which bodes well for the Jayhawks as they welcome their second WCC foe of the weekend in San Francisco. The Dons have never met the Jayhawks on the pitch.
 
About the Jayhawks
Kansas (3-2-1) is coming off its first winless weekend of the season after playing to a draw versus Arizona, 1-1, last Friday (9/6) and falling to Arizona State, 4-0 on Sunday (9/8) as part of the Sun Devil Classic in Tempe, Ariz. KU was receiving votes in last week’s NSCAA Coaches’ Poll but has fallen out of favor after its matches last weekend.
 
The Kansas offense is outshooting its opponents by an average of 16-13 shots per match, however KU’s accuracy has wavered of late, seeing the Jayhawks’ shot on goal percentage dip to 37.1 percent. Senior forward Caroline Kastor leads the team with three goals on the year, while junior teammate Jamie Fletcher has tallied two assists and added a team-leading 20 shots on the season. Kansas has shown to be an unselfish team in the early going of 2013 as seven different Jayhawks have entered the scoring column already this year.
 
Defense is what the Jayhawks have hung their hat on in the early portion of the season, seeing only three opponent goals scored before allowing four against Arizona State Sunday. KU has also already notched an impressive opponent scoreless streak this year, not allowing a goal for 348:34-straight minutes, beginning with the Arkansas match and ending in the game versus Purdue. Kaitlyn Stroud is second among Big 12 goalkeepers in saves with 28 on the year. The junior already has tallied two shutouts and is boasting a 1.12 goals against average, nearly .5 points less than her career average.
 
Scouting the Toreros
San Diego, now 4-2 in 2013, has had a roller-coaster season so far with two multiple goal losses to USC and Texas A&M and an overtime victory over top-25 ranked Missouri last weekend. In its four wins this year, the Toreros are outscoring their opponents 11-2, but in its two losses, USD has been outscored 10-3.
 
San Diego is being outshot by a wide margin, allowing 14 opponent shots per match, while the Toreros are tallying 9.7 shots per match. USD has chosen wisely with its limited number of shots however, putting over 67 percent of them on frame. Emily Dillon has already scored five goals this season to lead the team thus far in 2013.
 
The San Diego defense has is giving up 2.17 opponent goals per match but is keeping the opposing shot percentage below 16 percent. USD goalkeeper Michelle Craft has started all six of her team’s games this year and boasts a .675 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average with 27 saves in 2013.
 
Ada Greenwood is in his 11th year as the head coach of the San Diego women’s soccer program. Overall he has tallied a record of 102-78-18 in his first 10 seasons with the Toreros. Since taking over the reigns as head coach, Greenwood has guided the Toreros to six NCAA Tournament appearances including four straight from 2007-10.
 
Scouting the Dons
San Francisco is 4-1 on the season after claiming victory in both of its matches last weekend. The Dons have allowed just two goals on the season and have tallied three shutouts through their first five games of the year. This weekend’s games will mark the first matches away from home for USF. The Dons went 2-6-1 in games played on the road in 2012.
 
The San Francisco offense is scoring 1.2 per game with the help of 13.2 shots per match. Junior forward Mackenzie Kreider has tallied two of the team’s six goals so far this season and has sent in 26 of the team’s 66 shots. The USF offense has been accurate with its shot selection so far this year as 53 percent of its shots have been on frame.
 
The Don defense has allowed just two goals through five matches and is holding opponents to just 8.8 shots per match. It’s also been tough for opponents to amass shots on goal with USF only allowing 3.2 per game. Sophomore goalkeeper Madalyn Schuffel has started each of the Dons’ first five contests, tallying three shutouts in the win over and only .39 goals per match. Schuffel has tallied 14 saves so far in 2013 with an 87.5 save percentage.
 
Head coach Jim Millinder is in his second year at San Francisco. In his time with the Dons, Millinder has amassed a record of 11-9-4, and holds a NCAA DI career coaching record of 154-106-29. Prior to USF, he had stops at the University of Southern California, Loyola Marymount University and El Camino College.
 
This Day in KU Soccer History
Sept. 6, 2009 – The 23rd-ranked Kansas Jayhawks moved to a perfect 5-0 on the year when they defeated Rhode Island, 3-1, in Lawrence. Freshman Shelby Williamson put in the first goal of her career in the 37th minute, however the Rams knotted up the score just before halftime. Monica Dolinsky and Emily Cressy each tallied second-half goals to help KU pick up the victory. Kansas outshot Rhode Island 18-8 on the day.
 
Sept. 8, 1998 – A young Kansas soccer program tallied its first victory against archrival Missouri in the thriller played in Lawrence. The Jayhawks’ Kylie Watts scored on a header in the 22nd minute to put her team out front early. The KU defense then tightened up and thwarted several Missouri attacks over the next 65 minutes to earn its first victory of the season, 1-0. Kansas goalkeeper Jen Fecke tallied one of her nine career shutouts after making four saves on the day.
 
Sweet Caroline
With her goal in the 10th minute of the match against Arizona last Friday, senior Caroline Kastor moved up to third on Kansas’ all-time goal scoring charts. The senior’s 23 goals bring her level with Whitney Berry’s, Monica Dolinsky’s and Emily Cressy’s career totals of 23. Kastor is just three goals shy of tying Rachel Gilfillan for No. 2 in the KU record books.
 
The Wichita, Kan., native’s eight points have also moved her past Emily Cressy to fifth on the school’s all-time points chart with 59. She needs 10 more points this season to move into fourth by herself. Kastor is also approaching a milestone in game-winning goals, needing two more to tie for fourth all-time.
 
Spreading the Wealth
Kansas has proven to be an unselfish team so far this season, with seven different Jayhawks tallying goals, already evening to last season’s goal scorer total. This type of unselfish play isn’t anything new for Kansas, especially during the Mark Francis era. KU has seen seven or more of its players put in goals in all but one season of Francis’ 15-year stay in Lawrence.
 
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.
 
Odds and Ins

• The Jayhawks’ loss to Arizona last Sunday marked the first time in 36 matches a Kansas team had given up four goals or more in a game.
• The gametime temperature of 106°F at kickoff of the Kansas-Arizona match on Friday, Sept. 6 marked the hottest recorded gametime temperature in the program’s history.
• Junior Kaitlyn Stroud already has four more saves (28) in 560 minutes of play than she did a season ago in 676 total minutes.
• KU tallied two yellow cards in the match against the Sun Devils last Sunday, the most cautions for Kansas in a game since Sept. 30, 2011. Kansas only tallied one yellow card during the entire 2012 campaign.
• In the Jayhawks’ match against Arizona (9/6), KU outshot UA by a margin of 26-12. The 14-shot margin was KU’s biggest since they outshot Northern Colorado 23-5 last season on Oct. 26.
• Nineteen Jayhawks saw action against Arizona State on Sunday, the most KU players to enter a game since 20 Jayhawks tallied time in Kansas’ 6-1 win over Iowa State on Oct. 23, 2011.

Up Next
The Jayhawks will once again hit the road for a Friday night matchup against South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D. Kansas and the Jackrabbits will kickoff at 6 p.m. KU will then head back to Lawrence to welcome in Missouri Valley Conference foe Illinois State on Sept. 22. The Jayhawks and Redbirds are slated to hit the pitch at 1 p.m.
 
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